Reliability of Local Democracy Tested
Most preparations for the 2018 regional elections have been completed. The challenge lies in the strength of the democratic system, such as money politics and the neutrality of the organizers and the state apparatus.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The reliability of democracy at the local level will be tested during the third simultaneous regional head elections, which will be held on Wednesday.
Although the entire procedural process is mostly ready, the democratic aspect of the regional elections in 2018 will affected by money politics, organizational neutrality and civil state apparatuses – and conflicts over voting results.
The 2018 regional head election (Pilkada) will be followed by elections involving 567 candidate pairs who will battle it out in 171 regions, consisting of 17 provinces, 115 districts and 39 cities. The number of regions participating in the third simultaneous regional head elections is still lower than the 269 regions in the first in 2015.
The 2018 Pilkada will involve the highest number of voters ever in simultaneous elections. This time, there are 151 million eligible voters, or about 80 percent of total voters on the 2019 provisional voters list (DPS), which totals about 186.3 million people.
In 2020, Indonesia will again hold simultaneous regional head elections for the regions that participated in the 2015 elections. In 2024, national simultaneous regional head elections take place.
According to General Elections Commission (KPU) data, as of Sunday, most preparations for the elections have been completed. "As of today, there are no reports about activities that could disrupt the implementation of elections; no reports about activities that may disrupt logistics, personnel and budget," said KPU chairman Arief Budiman in Jakarta on Sunday.
Challenge
One of the challenges that has emerged in the current regional head elections is the fact that many regions have only one candidate pair up for election. Some democracy activists have made criticisms over this.
In the 2015 simultaneous regional head elections, there were only three regions that fielded a single candidate, and the number rose to nine regions in the 2017 simultaneous regional head elections.
Meanwhile, in the 2018 simultaneous regional head elections, 16 regions – almost 10 percent of the total regions participating in the Pilkada – will field a single candidate pair. "Later, we can see if some of the empty boxes in the 16 regions could win," Abhan of the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) said.
M. Afifuddin, a member of Bawaslu, said the use of ethnic, racial, religious and intergroup (SARA) issues during the campaign period ahead of the 2018 Pilkada, which affected the 2017 Jakarta regional head election, could be reduced. The issues still appear, but at a relatively small scale.
The chairman of the Central Java Bawaslu, Fajar Subhi, said violations during the campaign period were mostly related to the involvement of civil state apparatus and campaign props.
According Afifuddin, the neutrality of state apparatuses was another challenge in the current elections. Partiality has seemed to grow – some involved expect to get a higher position if the candidates they support win the elections.
The Interior Ministry also received reports that a number of state apparatuses were not neutral in the elections. "The partiality of the state apparatus is mostly found in areas where the incumbents take part in the elections and in areas where there is a single candidate. We have identified the names of the state apparatuses but the sanctions are in the hands of regional heads," Akmal Malik, the secretary of the Regional Autonomy Directorate General at the Home Ministry, said.
Data from the State Civil Service Commission (KASN) from January to May 31 show that as many as 748 state apparatuses were involved in Pilkada activities, including campaign activities through social media and in appealing to other government officials to elect certain candidate pairs.
However, according to the KASN chairman, Sofian Effendi, the punishment against those suspected to have violated the principle of neutrality had not been optimal. Only 15 to 20 percent of 748 state apparatuses involved in violations are sanctioned, sometimes with only a slap on the wrist. This is due to the fact that the sanctions are imposed by executives who, incidentally, head regions.
Mutual respect
Regarding the issue of neutrality in the elections, the general secretary of the Muhammadiyah Central Executive, Abdul Mu\'ti asked the government and officials to ensure neutrality is maintained. "Candidates and campaign teams should also not politicize religions that can reduce religious values and potentially divide people and nations," he said.
Muhammadiyah, Mu\'ti said, also called on the people to respect differences in choices, maintain order and maintain national unity.
The secretary-general of the executive board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU), Helmy Faishal Zaini, said the PBNU called on people to participate actively in the elections.
"Pilkada should not divide the community because of SARA issues. The people must unite and can elect the best leader in a healthy way," he said.
To anticipate various outcomes in the elections, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will deploy a team to monitor them. The vice chairman of the commission, Hairansyah, said the monitoring would be focused in areas with high election vulnerability indexes, namely West Kalimantan, North Sumatra, West Java, East Java, Central Java, Maluku and Papua. "We want to ensure there will be fair elections and citizens\' voting rights can be well served," he said.
The chairman of Komnas HAM, Ahmad Taufan Damanik, said the police and Bawaslu must ensure that issues related to SARA, hoaxes and hate speech do not grow.
Regions
Ahead of the cooling-off period, which began last Sunday, since last Saturday, props of election campaigns for the governor and vice governor of East Java have been lowered, except the banners that inform the people about their voting rights during the elections on Wednesday.
The chairman of KPU East Java, Eko Sasmito, said he hoped that voter participation in the East Java governor election would reach 70 percent.
The commissioner of KPU West Java, Nina Yuningsih, expressed hope over having the logistics distribution process finish on Monday.
(GAL/MHD/ETA/ODY/RTG/EGI/KRN/SEN/SEM/BOW/REK/APA)