Elitist Presidential Election

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center) is accompanied by the chairpersons of political parties in the Indonesian Working Coalition at a meeting in Jakarta on Thursday (08/09/2018), when he announced Ma\'ruf Amin as his running mate. Pictured are (from left): National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, Hanura chairman Oesman Sapta Odang, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, Nasdem Chairperson Surya Paloh, Golkar chairman Airlangga Hartarto and United Development Party (PPP) chairman Romahurmuziy.

“Politics is who gets what, when, how,” said American political scientist Harold Laswell (1902-1978).

This theory seems highly relevant as we observe the maneuvers of political elites in the final two days of the candidate registration period for the 2019 presidential election. The vice president slot was hotly contested, with several parties underlining that their proposed VP candidates were “non-negotiable”. However, the political reality shows that nothing is “non-negotiable” in politics, as politics is a series of negotiations and transactions packaged together in the sophisticated term of “power sharing”.

In layman’s terms, power sharing often means a distribution of cabinet positions. The cabinet seats are often traded to secure support for certain presidential candidates. Sometimes, power sharing is rationalized by thinking that since the country has so many problems, one political group alone cannot possibly fix everything. Power sharing is necessitated by the constitutional rule of the presidential threshold, which stipulates a minimum 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives, or 25 percent of the national vote. As no single political party meets this requirement, forming coalitions is inevitable.

Power sharing is entirely legal in forming governments. Coalitions and power sharing should be based on the similarities of the platforms, vision, mission and values the political groups espouse – instead of merely seeking an electoral win. In essence, these similarities seek to place the people as the focus of development efforts in order to achieve social welfare. Social welfare and social justice are goals that should be attained together.

Determining the presidential and vice presidential candidates has been a complex matter, as all parties are pitting their chances in the 2024 elections as an important factor in calculating their chances for 2019. Whoever becomes vice president will have a good chance of winning the 2024 election. The political parties’ egos have rear their ugly heads in calculations that look too far ahead.

However, looking at today’s political dynamics, it seems that we are getting farther from the political ideal that places the people first. Coalitions are formed merely to fulfill Laswell’s terms: “What do we get, when and how?” In the realm of elitist politics, this dominates concerns while the people are marginalized.

Coalitions should not be only about winning elections through political calculations. It should be about forming governments that can realize good governance, ensure welfare for all Indonesians and maintain security and diversity under Pancasila.

The contemporary political reality shows that Indonesia has too many politicians and too few statesmen. To quote American intellectual James Clarke, “A politician thinks about the next election. A statesman, the next generation.”