2018 Politics and 2019 Presidential Election
If the scope of democracy is general election, Indonesia may be the most democratic country.
Since the start of the direct regional elections in 2005, there have nearly been no days without elections in Indonesia, because there are 542 regions (provinces, regencies, cities). Just after the simultaneous regional elections on June 27, 2018, in 171 regions (17 provinces, 39 cities and 115 regencies), Indonesia has been busy again with the stages of simultaneous elections, presidential elections (pilpres) and legislative elections (pileg) in 2019. The political temperature has inevitably continued to heat up.
As experiences show, bureaucratic politicization has become one of the sources of life coals of the general election. Out of 1,247 violations of the general election, 10 percent of them (125 cases) have been related to neutrality of the civil apparatuses.
In the general election, it is difficult for the bureaucrats to be neutral. The strong political pull, especially from the political party holding the power, has made many of them be in dilemmatic position. Career cambling has therefore become an option, because even when they “keep silent” can also sometimes be wrong. Therefore, an adage “winning can be beneficial, losing can be unfortunate” becomes a kind of destiny.
A general election year, the most prominent record from the year 2018 is the high level of threat of social cleavages. The threat, especially, is related to the dynamics of the general election. Various opinions and hoaxes continue to stir up the people’s feelings, particularly through social media, starting from the issue of criminalization of ulemas, foreign workers, foreign debts, to the issue of the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). One of the triggers is the social inequality which remain high as reflected in the Gini ratio at the level of 0.389.
The politicization of identities is inevitable. The issue of ethnic, religion, race and inter-groups (SARA) becomes a kind of scapegoat to gain political support, because it is the easiest strategy to influence the sentiment of the voters’ behavior. Let alone at the time of the difficult economy and scarcity of job opportunities and the high level of social inequality. Such difficulties are easily twisted into the issue of SARA.
The issue of politicization of SARA or identity politicization is actually not unique because this is the easiest strategy to influence primordial sentiment of the voters’ behavior. This even happened in developed countries, such as England, in connection with the Brexit referendum issue. Likewise in the presidential election in the United States, in relation with the use of immigrant issue by Donald Trump.
Political parties of identity
For Indonesia, the politicization of identity is easily ignited because since the beginning of independence many political parties, which were built based on identity, especially religion. In general election in 1955 there were a number of political parties of identity, such the Masyumi Party, the NU Party, the Catholic Party and Parkindo. In the general election in 1971, out of 10 political parties, there were six political parties using religious identity, namely the Catholic Party, the Syarikat Islam Indonesia Party, Nahdlatul
Ulama Party, Indonesian Muslim Party, Indonesian Christian Party, and the Islam Party of Persatuan Tarbiyah Islamiyah. However, those political parties were later suspended due to the deparpolization policy and the single principle enacted by the New Order government.
The birth of reform era inflates again the political parties of identity. Out of 48 political parties participating in the 1999 general election, there were nine political parties which used Islam as their principle, one political party which included the Qur’an and Hadith, and two political parties which included Pancasila and the Ahlussunnah wal jamaah creed. Meanwhile, in Aceh and Papua, there are also political parties of identity, such Aceh People Party and United Papua Party.
In this case, there are at least two factors which make the Islamic parties to prosper again. First, it was related to the Decree of President BJ Habibie, which revoked the system rule of three parties (namely Golkar, PDI and PPP) and, second, the revocation of the 1985 mass organization law on the obligation on the application of the Pancasila principles.
Actually there is nothing wrong with identity politics because humans cannot be separated from the aspects which shape their identities. There is no need to worry about religion as an ideology of political parties because religious values are in line with the values of Pancasila. The problem is when identity politics is manipulated and exploited in such a way excessively for the narrow political interests of certain groups such as by glorifying their own ethnic or religion and harassing other different groups.
As a country which is full of general elections, it is important for us to improve the quality of the Indonesian democracy. Therefore, the presidential and legislative elections in 2019 need to be addressed in ways which are fair, honest, wise and civilized in line with the values of Pancasila. Therefore, campaigns should be interpreted as a means for dialogue, program testing, and performance testing as well as a means for sharing information, both between candidates and between the candidates and the people. Not a means to belittle characters and individuals.
Different choices should not necessarily spark hatred and social division. Whoever is elected will be the president and vice president for all people. Therefore, for the people, the presidential and legislative elections should sufficiently be addressed intelligently, such as in choosing products with the adage “be careful before buying”. As religious persons, istikharah is the best way to get God’s guidance in making choices.
To produce quality general election, first of all hard work has to be carried out by the general election organizers, government officials and law enforcers. Neutrality/independence and professionalism are important factors because the success of the presidential and legislative elections is largely determined by the factor of trust. On the other hand, political parties participating in the presidential election must play beautifully and elegantly in their efforts to gain support from the voters. The campaigns have to be used as a means for political communication, political socialization, and a means of the articulation of interests, not just a means of gaining power.
Behavior of the voters
It is grateful that thus far the behavior of Indonesian voters seems to be increasingly intelligent. Political parties which are considered by the public to be “less trust-worthy”, having less care to the people tend to be abandoned. These social sanctions are clearly visible from the historical facts of general elections in the reform era, with the ruling political parties never winning the legislative elections. In the 2002
legislative election, Golkar Party defeated the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) as the winner of the 1999 general election. In the 2009 legislative election, Golkar Party was toppled by the Democratic Party. In the 2014 legislative election, the PDI-P was again victorious, followed by Golkar Party and Gerindra Party.
Besides new political parties, it is important for the political parties of identity to change their mindset and political strategies if they do not want to lose their votes. The facts show that in the 1955 general election, the combination of Islamic parties gained 43.7 percent, in the 2014 general election total votes garnered by the Islamic parties fell to only 31.25 percent. On the one hand the obedience of the people in carrying out their worship is getting higher, on the other hand the influence of religion in political decision making is getting weaker.
Therefore, the politicization of identity which is widely used to gain support from the voters needs to be avoided because the behavior of the voters is increasingly rational. The politics of gincu (image building) has increasingly been abandoned by the voters. As its replacement, especially the political parties of identity need to explore religious values which are beneficial for the improvement of the quality of the life of the nation and state.
Long before Indonesia’s independence, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika had become the identity and at the same time the glue which united the nation. Ethnic and racial differences which are created by God should be the lessons of the life of the nation to tolerate all aspects of life, not only in the choice religions and works, but also in the presidential election.
The birth of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) was fought together and therefore, the presidential and legislative elections should become a momentum to improve and accelerate the realization of the nation’s ideals. Therefore, the 2019 general election may not pawn the unity, because without the unity, NKRI never exists. (R Siti Zuhro, Research Professor, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI))