An Era of Political Absurdity

This nation is entering a political era that is becoming more absurd – politics is prioritizing the legal aspect but ignoring ethics and morality.

Conscience is being sidelined.

Preliminary data from the regional elections on June 27, 2018 show an alarming trend regarding corruption eradication. The political elite strongly campaigned for corruption eradication. The People’s Consultative Assembly decree on state bodies being free from corruption, collusion and nepotism was issued in 1998.

Nevertheless, although it does not reflect the majority of politicians, several regions, such as Tulungagung regency and North Maluku province, that saw regent and gubernatorial candidates being detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), won the elections – according to the real count, not the official results from the General Elections Commission (KPU).

In Tulungagung, based on the C1 form (tally from polling station), the Syahri Mulyono-Maryoto Birowo pair garnered 59.8 percent of the vote. Syahri, who was named a suspect and detained by the KPK on June 9, defeated the Margiono-Eko Prisdianto pair that secured 40.2 percent of the vote.

In North Maluku, gubernatorial candidate Ahmad Hidayat Mus has been detained by the KPK since Monday. Hidayat was named a suspect on March 16. KPU quick count results from Friday (29/6/2018), 6:30 p.m., show that, with 99.49 percent of the vote tallied, 176,019 votes (31.9 percent) went to Hidayat-Rivai Umar, while 167,453 votes (30.38 percent) went to Abdul Gani Kasuba-M Al Yasin Ali. The result is not yet final.

KOMPAS/ALIF ICHWAN

Ahmad Hidayat Mus, a former Sula Islands regent who ran for North Maluku governor in the recent election, smiles as he is detained on Monday (2/7/2018) by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after a 9-hour interrogation at the KPK’s Jakarta headquarters. Ahmad was questioned as a suspect in the corruption case over a 2009 land acquisition project for Bobong Airport.

As reported by this daily newspaper, Hidayat said he believed he would be inaugurated despite his status as a KPK detainee. Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo holds a legalistic view. “[He] will be inaugurated until there is a final and binding ruling,” Tjahjo said at Monas Square in Central Jakarta on Friday (29/6), responding to the likely win of Syahri in Tulungagung regency.

The reality of the regional election, at least in those two regions, shows that fighting corruption is not yet part of the public agenda. The public is still permissive of acts of corruption, as they can easily be framed as a political effort to attack a political opponent during a regional election. Such phenomenon is interesting to study to get the best recipe for corruption eradication.

If the political trend continues, the public will be given an entertaining political show. Based on a law on regional elections, the inauguration of elected governors takes place at the State Palace and is officiated by President Joko Widodo. The law stipulates that the President can delegate the duty to the Vice President or home minister.

Will President Jokowi inaugurate as governor a corruption suspect that is under the detention of the KPK? This is the era of political absurdity. Let us wait.