Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo (right) in conversation with special committee deputy head Riza Patria (left) and Yandri Susanto before the start of a General Election Implementation bill special committee work meeting at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (19/6). The House of Representatives and the government are still trying to complete the General Election Implementation bill which contains five crucial issues.
The deliberation of the bill on the implementation of the general elections is stalled at the House of Representatives (DPR). There is still disagreement on some crucial issues, while time for reaching a deal is running out.
By comparison, Law No. 8 of 2012 on General Elections, which was the legal basis for the 2014 general elections, was endorsed on April 14, 2012 – well ahead of the legislative elections held on April 9, 2014. This gave the General Election Commission (KPU) two years to prepare for the 2014 general elections, which included the legislative elections and the presidential election.
Taking into consideration the time issue, the ongoing deliberation of the new elections bill will leave the KPU pressed for time to prepare for the 2019 elections, all the more so because the commission also has the 2018 regional elections on its plate. This situation should be considered by the government and the DPR. A political consensus must be sought to address a number of crucial issues, especially the threshold for the nomination of presidential candidates.
In an effort to build a consensus among political parties, a consensus builder is needed. It would be reasonable and sensible to expect President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo himself to approach the chairmen of political parties to seek political consensus. The issue is not just about setting the threshold for presidential candidate nominations at 20 percent or zero percent, but rather about the arguments behind it and how a consensus between political parties can be reached.
We hope the 2017 General Elections Law becomes a lasting law, so that it is not necessary to redefine the rules of the game for every election. Like a ball game, it always starts with creating a field and a new rule. Democracy requires a steady set of regulations.
The face of the 2019 general elections changed when the Constitutional Court ordered that the elections be held simultaneously, namely the presidential election, the DPR election, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) election and the election of the Regional Legislative Council and Regency Legislative Council (DPRD). The first simultaneous elections will be a complex task. It takes tremendous imagination to design simultaneous five-box elections, with all the complexity of the problem of reaching more than 188 million potential voters across Indonesia\'s challenging geography.
This factor of urgency should become a consideration. Deliberations on the bill on the implementation of general elections should not be allowed to drag on. There should be a shared awareness of the timing of when to complete the deliberation. Having in place a Law on the Implementation of General Elections and the readiness of the KPU will determine the quality of the 2019 general elections. An initiative from President Jokowi to build political consensus on the bill is badly needed. Politics is the art of looking for possibilities. There are no dead ends.
