The Regional Representatives Council (DPD) chaos has made us realize that this nation is experiencing a problem in the matter of institutional legitimacy.
The public witnessed how council members went about leadership change in a manner not rooted in law and morality. Oesman Sapta Odang, Nono Sampono and Darmayanti Lubis were elected as the DPD de facto speakers, even though in terms of de jure, the leadership could be questioned.
The Supreme Court (MA) was also involved in the whirlpool of the institutional crisis. It started with the court’s judicial review ruling that annulled DPD Regulation No. 1/2016, which it described as a “mistype.” Unfortunately, the unprofessional ruling by the Supreme Court judge meant that the ruling could not be executed because the copy of the ruling read ‘DPRD’, instead of ‘DPD’. It is this loophole that the DPD members have taken advantage of to enable it to change its leadership, and the leadership change was attended by MA deputy chief Suwardi, representing Supreme Court chief Hatta Ali, who at the time was not in Jakarta. The court said that its attendance was a response to an invitation by the DPD general secretary. The ruling made by a Supreme Court judge was not a consideration in Suwardi’s decision to attend.
The House of Representatives (DPR) is also facing a crisis after a number of its speakers and members were implicated in the e-KTP (electronic ID card) corruption case. A number of House members have been summoned by the anti-corruption court, including House Speaker Setya Novanto, who is also the Golkar Party chairman. This is the ugly picture of our parliament.
A similar occurrence has also unfolded in the Constitutional Court. After constitutional court justice Patrialis Akbar was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and has yet to be replaced, some regional election documents have been stolen from the court. In the latest incident, the Constitutional Court ruling, which has taken away the authority of the central government to annul problematic bylaws and transferred the authority to the Supreme Court, is bound to encourage local administrations to make any bylaws they want, before it is taken to the Supreme Court and asked to be annulled, which will take up some time.
This trend of institutional crisis and the loss of integrity must be quickly addressed. President JokoWidodo in his role as the head of state with the authority must consider and take measures to manage the situation before it gets worse and taken advantage of by anti-democracy groups.
The ideology of Pancasila and the constitution must be a cornerstone of governance. President Joko Widodo as the head of state must ensure that the nation is governed professionally based on Pancasila and the 1945 constitution because Indonesia is not merely a state of authority.
