With the ongoing second wave of local elections, will regular polls bring a better public awareness of voting and improved competence of election bodies, or merely a means to gain power by scores of aspiring governors, mayors, regents and legislators? Of the 244 local elections scheduled this year alone, 130 wrapped up in the past three months, raising widespread skepticism that little has improved since the first direct polls in 2005. Conflicts, violations and vote buying tainting the elections are shrouding the winners' legitimacy. The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat looks at the issue.
More than 90 of 130 local elections, including three gubernatorial races in Riau Islands, Central and South Kalimantan provinces, have wrapped up their results. Like scores of other elections, the results were nowhere close to the 2009 general elections, overwhelmingly won by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.
In the local elections, all major political parties shared victory, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) winning 14 polls, the Golkar Party nine and the Democratic Party six.
Despite the criticism, one winner is clear: local economies thrive during elections. In resource-rich regions, contenders and political parties have been known to spend up to Rp 20 billion each on media airtime, billboards, "charity" events, campaign logistics and transportation, and the more direct forms of vote buying. (JP/IRMAJP/IRMA)
Coverage of the elections has also brought with it the involvement of new and old militant groups attached to many political parties, all of which need uniforms, meals and "training" – and the involvement of businesspeople. As in the days of old, new election rules did not seem to deter politicians from using every loophole in written and unwritten rules on campaign funding. The election supervisory committees stood aside, saying the law didn't stipulate much on donations, and saying they lacked any authority to act. Also, contending incumbents were accused of using state facilities and conspiring with local election bodies in their bid for reelection. All this has meant most elections were infested by the use of intimidation, disputes and rioting.
Fortunately, most of the conflicting sides have accepted the final ruling of the Constitutional Court, at least there has been a mechanism to settle these teething pains.
Violent rioting triggered by election disputes rocked, among others, Bengkayang in West Kalimantan, Mojokerto in East Java, East Flores in East Nusa Tenggara, Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara, and Samosir in North Sumatra.
In the 92 elections between April and May this year, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) listed 1,645 violations that mostly occurred during vote counting. More than 70 violations occurred during the candidates' screening and selection phase.
Hadar Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) said "transactional politics" at the national level such as the investigation into the Bank Century bailout and the corruption scandals involving the National Police, were among the few issues that drew government attention away from the conflicts of local elections.
Jerry Sumampouw from the Committee for Indonesian Voters (Tepi) blamed different interpretations of the 2004 Regional Administration Law as well as a disregard for ethics in organizing elections, from the upgrading of voters' roll to the final counting.
"The election committees have apparently not learned from the 2005 local elections and the 2009 legislative and presidential elections. The government and the House have also declined to replace incompetent commissioners midway through their tenure," he said.
Most local polls were contested by four to 11 candidates, taken by some as a sign of greater appreciation of the significance of elections.
Hadar said the dismissal of a commissioner believed to favor a candidate from the Democratic Party "is a strong indication of the election commission's incompetence, from updating the voter list roll, candidate verification and vote counting".
While vote buying is hard to prove, Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Civilized Circle (Lima) said such bribes for votes could be minimized if the election commission banned candidates and political parties from all vote-buying activities – including the benign-looking distribution of basic goods, which politicians say their potential voters demand from all who seek their ballots.