Indonesian politics in 2012: coalitions, accountability and the future of democracy

Abstract

Indonesia is a successful but flawed democracy: while the electoral process has worked well, the quality of democratic governance is less encouraging. Missing from the equation between elections and democracy is political accountability. Parties’ obsession with coalition building as a route to political power has made it difficult for voters to attribute success or failure to elected officials. Coalition government allows politicians to send contradictory messages, and in 2012 religious minorities – which are neither banned nor protected – have paid a heavy price for the lack of accountability and leadership. In Jakarta an outsider, Joko Widodo, won the gubernatorial election despite facing an incumbent backed by a broad coalition. His victory illustrates that coalition building does not guarantee success, and that the electorate is mature enough not to be swayed by appeals to religious and ethnic sentiment. This gives heart to those hoping to strengthen democracy and democratic values in Indonesia.

Keywords:

• elections
• democracy
• accountability
• coalition building
• religious freedom

Acknowledgements

I would particularly like to thank Greg Fealy for his critical engagement with this paper during its various stages, and Edward Aspinall and Jonathan Zilberg for providing extremely useful comments. I would also like to thank Wawan Ichwanuddin and Timothy Mann for their assistance in providing invaluable data. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author, not the Asia Foundation.

Notes

¹See, for example, Aspinall (2010); Diamond (2010); Mietzner and Aspinall (2010); and Buehler (2011).

²The legal framework for 2014 is currently being deliberated by parliament; the latest discussions signal that it will remain the same (‘Parties gang up against Prabowo’, Jakarta Post, 26 September 2012).

³PAN, PKB and the United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan, PPP) supported the proposal; PKS and Gerindra voted against it; and PDI-P and Hanura walked out of the plenary session of parliament. Although initially against the proposal, Golkar voted for it after being persuaded to agree to a compromise that would allow the government to reduce the subsidy if the Indonesian crude oil price rose beyond a certain level in 2012 (Olivia and Yamauchi 2012: 144).

⁴Wawan Ichwanuddin, personal communication, 17 September 2012; see also Ichwanuddin (2011) and Hidayat (2012).

⁵The other two pairs ran as independents, after gathering the signatures of 4% of Jakarta residents (407,340 people); see Arditya (2012).

⁶‘Mas gubernur pengganti kokong [Javanese governor replaces the Betawi]’, Tempo News Magazine, 24–30 September 2012: 34–8.

⁷Interview with Ery Eryanto Nugroho, Executive Director of PSHK, 15 September 2012; see also PSHK (2012).

⁸At the national level, these organisations include PSHK, Puskapol, Demos and the People's Voter Education Network (Jaringan Pendidikan Pemilih untuk Rakyat, JPPR). At the regional level, they include the Institute for Research and Empowerment (IRE) in Yogyakarta, Akatiga in Bandung and the Women's Empowerment Institute (Lembaga Pemberdayaan Perempuan, LPP) in Bone, Sulawesi.

⁹The top position was given to 69% of male MPs but only 44% of female MPs.

¹⁰Candidates with high name recognition have a better chance of gaining a favourable position on the party list, although the more experienced party elites still have the upper hand. It is important to note that to run for parliament, candidates have to secure the nomination of a political party. According to Ramlan Subakti (2012), a former electoral commissioner, this is a direct consequence of the requirement under Law 8/2012 on General Elections that the contestants of parliamentary elections be political parties.

¹¹‘Democracy brings adverse impacts on minorities, economy’, Jakarta Post, 12 October 2012.

¹²The author wishes to thank Hana Satriyo for pointing out that this is becoming less of a problem in the national parliament, where a threshold of 2.5% of the national vote was introduced in 2009 for parties to be able to win seats. This has reduced the number of parties in the parliament, but increased the number of parliamentarians from each party. As a result, most parties would now generally have enough members to serve on the various parliamentary committees.

¹³‘KPK dilemahkan istana dinilai abai [KPK weakened, palace seen as neglectful]’, Koran Tempo, 1 October 2012.

¹⁴Indonesians living overseas also contributed to this symbolic campaign; see, for example, ‘Indonesians in Oz donate coins for the KPK’, Jakarta Post, 15 July 2012.

¹⁵See, for example, the budget analysis by Fitra (2011, 2012).

¹⁶‘Democracy brings adverse impacts on minorities, economy’, Jakarta Post, 12 October 2012.

¹⁷Interview, 15 September 2012.

¹⁸Other problems included under-developed infrastructure, unemployment, corruption and the poor quality of education; see <http://www.fundforpeace.org/global/>.

¹⁹This, in itself, is an interesting phenomenon, particularly for students of Islam and politics in Indonesia. It is consistent with observations of the changing roles of massbased Islamic organisations such as NU and Muhammadiyah in Indonesia. See Bush and Munawar-Rachman (n.d).

²⁰According to Crouch (2012: 2), the blasphemy law (Law 5/1969) – rarely used before 1998 – is increasingly being used to target religious minorities whose beliefs and practices deviate from mainstream Islamic teachings.

²¹‘Ulama Syiah dipidana penodaan agama [Shiah ulama sentenced for blasphemy]’, press release, Human Rights Watch, 16 July 2012; ‘Shi'a leader imprisoned for blasphemy must be released’, press release, Amnesty International, 12 July 2012.

²²‘Syawal berdarah di Sampang [Bloody end to Ramadhan in Sampang]’, press release, Aliansi Solidaritas Kasus Sampang, 27 August 2012.

²³Press release, Aliansi Solidaritas Kasus Sampang, 27 August 2012.

²⁴‘Shia conversion is solution: minister ’, Jakarta Post, 6 September 2012.

²⁵‘Indonesian organisers fight for Lady Gaga gig’, AFP, 16 May 2012.

²⁶‘Gaga is a devil worshipper: minister ’, Jakarta Post, 17 May 2012.

²⁷‘Lady Gaga the first rejected by authorities: police’, Jakarta Post, 15 May 2012.

²⁸‘Gaga saga is final – without permit, say police’, Jakarta Post, 18 May 2012.