Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Teething problems in the legislation of direct elections make "money politics" and "political monopolies" inevitable in the Jakarta gubernatorial election, observers say.
A postgraduate student at the University of Indonesia, Kevin Evans, said the law requiring parties to have won at least 15 percent of the vote in the last general election to nominate a candidate encouraged "political monopolies".
"It provides an incentive for a candidate to create a big coalition, and forbids other candidates to step into the election to avoid complicated competitions. It is exactly like a monopoly practice in the economic sector," he said after a seminar on the Jakarta election.
Evans, former head of the anti-corruption unit at the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, said Fauzi Bowo could not be faulted for putting together a huge political coalition because that was what it took to win the election.
When Jakarta holds its first direct gubernatorial election in August, voters will have only two candidates to choose from.
Fauzi Bowo and his running mate, Army Maj. Gen. (ret) Prijanto, have ensured the support of 20 of the 24 political parties in the city. The city's largest party, the Prosperous Justice Party, is backing Police Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun and his running mate, councilor Dani Anwar.
The days leading up to the registration of candidates were marked by a lot of maneuvering by political parties, as they tried to gain the advantage for their candidates.
Fauzi's Jakarta Coalition – which wanted a head-to-head battle with Adang – successfully wooed the National Awakening Party, the National Mandate Party and several smaller parties that had previously backed legislator Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, who later dropped his candidacy.
Sarwono's former backers, who initially intended to support a run by retired Army general Agum Gumelar, instead joined Fauzi's coalition just hours before the poll commission closed candidate registration last Thursday night.
In dropping out of the race, Sarwono said he was sickened by all the political maneuvering surrounding the candidates. He also failed to win the support of enough parties to qualify for the election. Agum had to drop his bid for the same reason.
National Democratic Institute Indonesia director Paul Rowland said it was simply the nature of politics to benefit from unregulated parts of an election process.
In Rowland's home country Canada, where the nomination process for candidates is transparent and there are fund ceilings for individual contributions to parties and candidates, there was a scandal involving members of the Liberal Party who used state funds for their political activities.
"So, it depends on how a country draws the lines for the election. It takes a good set of regulations and good enforcement from the government to run a good direct election."