Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Rapists, killers and other criminals can run as legislative candidates in general elections as a committee in the House of Representatives (DPR) has agreed to grant former convicts their political rights.
Based on articles agreed upon by legislators, the criminals will be allowed to run for seats in the House, the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and regional legislative councils (DPRD).
"Ex-convicts can be candidates five years after finishing their jail terms. They must announce publicly during the campaign that they are former prisoners," said Gede Pasek Suardika, chairman of a special committee deliberating a bill on the revision of the 2008 Election Law.
"The point is that a former convict has paid off his or her wrongdoings by serving jail time. Thus, they become ordinary citizen again within certain limits," he added. The agreement was made on the basis of a recent Constitutional Court (MK) ruling, Gede said.
In 2009, the MK approved a judicial review filed by Robertus, a former murder convict from Pagar Alam, South Sumatra. Robertus challenged articles in the 2008 Election Law that prevented him from running in an election, saying they contravened the Constitution.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) legislator Ganjar Pranowo, another committee member, said recidivists would still be banned from running in elections. "Recidivists are treated differently because they continue to offend," he said.
Apart from the agreement on that issue, legislators also agreed to allow political parties 16 months for political campaigning, much longer than the nine-month campaign period in the 2009 elections. Lawmakers and the government believe longer campaigns can lessen corrupt practices.
"Longer campaign periods will help voters understand the background of their potential representatives. This will also put pressure on political parties to nominate credible candidates in order to win votes," Gede added.
"Because voters make informed choices, it will prevent politicians using bribery to influence voters. Voters will reject candidates thought to be incompetent," he added.
In addition, the House committee and the government also made a groundbreaking decision by giving political rights to citizens who don't have identity cards, such as KTP (ID card) or passports.
The decision was made after learning that certain tribes in remote areas, such as the Anak Dalam in Sumatra and the Badui in Banten, did not use such documents. "Identification is an administrative matter, which should not prevent citizens from using their constitutional right to vote," said Nurul Arifin of the Golkar Party.
"However, we are still discussing mechanisms for them to vote. They certainly cannot use the same mechanisms as urban voters," she added.
Although the House and the government have made several ground-breaking decisions, they have yet to agree on other important issues such as the plan to raise the legislative threshold. The prolonged discussion on the legislative threshold has split members of the current coalition government.
Four smaller coalition parties, namely the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) oppose the plan of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) to form a so-called "central axis". They want the threshold to be set at 3 percent.
The government has proposed a legislative threshold of 4 percent for the 2014 polls. The Democratic Party supports the government's proposal, but its main ally, Golkar, agrees with the biggest opposition party, the PDI-P, which wants the threshold to be set at 5 percent.