Jakarta – Democratic Party chairman and former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed his anger over Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie's declaration that Golkar would reject direct elections of regional leaders.
Aburizal said during Golkar's national congress earlier this week that the party would reject the government regulation in lieu of law, or Perppu, which Yudhoyono signed in his last days in office, in order to restore the mechanism that allows voters to directly elect regional leaders.
Yudhoyono did so after widespread public outcry, which blamed him for the passage of the regional election law that scrapped direct votes, returning the right to elect governors, mayors and district heads to local legislative councils – as had been the practice during the authoritarian New Order era.
Yudhoyono caught flak after lawmakers of his party, then the biggest caucus in the House of Representatives, walked out of the plenary session deliberating the bill, which allowed the opposition Red-White Coalition (KMP) to easily win the vote against direct elections – largely deemed a setback to Indonesia's democracy.
The Perppu, seen by observers as a move by the former president to restore his reputation as a champion of democracy, cancels the law, but only temporarily.
Lawmakers must decide in three months – after the signing of the Perppu in early October – whether to retain or reject it. If they reject it, they must draft a whole new law that will settle the matter.
Aburizal's critics have accused him of making the pledge to reject the Perppu in order to garner support for his re-election bid from leaders of Golkar's regional branches. Aburizal was re-elected as the party's chairman by acclamation on Wednesday.
Golkar's 'betrayal'
Yudhoyono reminded Golkar of the pact it had signed along with other members of KMP – including the Democrats – to support the Perppu, correcting the blunder that they had made with the passage of the controversial regional election law. Golkar is the largest party in the opposition bloc.
"[Golkar] has one-sidedly rejected the Perpu, betraying the deal that has been made. To me, this is a very principled matter," Yudhoyono tweeted on Thursday evening from his account, @SBYudhoyono.
He added that the Democrats could "no longer cooperate" with "inconsistent parties that betray deals and abandon commitments," although he did not elaborate as to what this would mean.
Yudhoyono also said he had ordered Democratic Party leaders to side with the pro-government Awesome Indonesia Coalition, or KIH, in order to support the adoption of the Perppu as the permanent ruling for matters concerning regional elections.
"The Democratic Party and I, along with the people of Indonesia, will continue to fight for improved mechanism of direct elections of regional leaders," Yudhoyono tweeted.
Didik Mukrianto, the secretary of the Democratic Party faction in the House, said on Friday that the party's lawmakers would work together with the KIH to defend the Perppu. "We won't abstain. The KIH's votes, added with ours, will be enough to win [the Peppu]," Didik said on Friday.
Another KMP member, the National Mandate Party (PAN), also said it would throw its weight behind the Perppu. PAN is known to be close with the Democratic Party as the daughter of its chairman Hatta Rajasa is married to Yudhoyono's son.
"We've pledged our commitment [to supporting the Perppu] along with the Democratic Party. And surely we also must listen to aspirations of the people," PAN deputy secretary general Teguh Juwarno said on Friday.
A matter of votes
The five-party KIH controls a combined 246 seats in the House, compared with the KMP's 314. If all KIH members faithfully abide by to support direct regional elections, the Perppu can receive up to 356 votes with the support of PAN and the Democratic Party.
In comparison, the remaining parties in the KMP – Golkar, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) – will only be able to garner 204 votes.
KIH lawmakers indicated on Friday that they would most likely stick together to support the Perppu, as they had during September's deliberations of the regional election law, when they were defeated in the vote.
"The regional election Perppu contains people's right to vote and be voted for. We're committed to protecting it," said Fauzi Amro, a lawmaker with People's Conscience Party (Hanura), a member of the KIH.
"The PKB will keep pushing for the House of Representatives' endorsement of the Perppu," Abdul Malik Haramain of the National Awakening Party (PKB), another KIH member, said separately.
"We'll most likely support the Perppu," added Ahmad Basarah of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest faction in the KIH, noting several suggestions for improvements of the direct vote mechanism Yudhoyono has included in the Perppu.
The remaining two members of the KMP, Gerindra and the PKS, meanwhile, have yet to clarify their stance on the issue. House Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah of the PKS said on Friday that several KMP leaders were planning to meet Yudhoyono to discuss the issue.
Fahri indicated that he at least disagreed with the Perppu, saying it should have been issued only in cases of emergency, which he said was non-existent in the case of the regional election law.
"When Perppus are issued, it indicates that the country is in an emergency," Fahri said. "If we issue many Perppus, it's sending signals to other countries that this nation is in a state of emergency."
A latest poll by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), meanwhile, pointed out that Golkar's intention to grant the right to elect regional leaders to local legislative councils as being deeply unpopular.
"Most members of the public regret the outcome of Golkar's national congress as it wants to return the right to elect regional leaders to DPRDs [city councils]," LSI researcher Adrian Sopa told a press conference on the poll result on Friday.
"As many as 82.7 percent of respondents regret Golkar's stance of supporting regional elections through DPRDs." Adrian said the survey, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday, involved 1,200 respondents in 33 provinces.
Although lawmakers are likely to vote for the Perppu, the Home Affairs Ministry says the government has prepared drafts for at least two alternative regulations, in case the Perppu is rejected.
"We've anticipated a few possibilities. If [lawmakers] agree with direct elections, then we can go on with the existing Perppu," the ministry's director general for regional autonomy, Djohermansyah Djohan, told Indonesian news portal republika.co.id on Friday.
"If they want mixed mechanisms, we have a draft [for the regulation]. If they want all the elections to be done through DPRDs, we also have a draft regulation."
Under mixed mechanisms, governors may be elected through direct votes by the people, while mayors and district heads are elected by DPRDs, Djohermansyah explained.
However, he suggested that the House should simply accept the Perppu, saying legal certainty is quickly needed ahead of regional elections in 188 regions in seven provinces that are supposed to take place simultaneously next year.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/direct-elections-set-split-indonesias-legislature/