Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Given the scarcity of credible candidates from the country's political establishment, experts have suggested that in the future independent presidential candidates should be allowed to run.
Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) executive director Dodi Ambardi said that it was time high for members of civil society to come forward and nominate their own presidential candidates. "Civil movements must promote alternative candidates if we want to see change in the country," Dodi said in a discussion over the weekend.
He said credible independent candidates nominated by civil society could serve as a wake-up call for established political parties to propose similar well-qualified candidates. Nominating an independent candidate would be an uphill battle because the country's law only allows candidates nominated by political parties.
"We must remember that the law stipulates that only political parties are allowed to nominate presidential candidates. Thus, we must encourage independent and well-qualified individuals to promote themselves as alternatives to those promoted by political parties," Dodi said.
Islamic State University (UIN) political analyst Bahtiar Effendy said most current politicians lacked integrity and new figures should come from outside the present system.
Bahtiar said he did not expect credible candidates would emerge in the future presidential race. "Credible candidates would likely emerge from outside of any political parties because such candidates will not see the presidential race as a means to make a living," he said.
Major political parties have nominated their candidates for the 2014 presidential election.
The Golkar Party earlier announced that it would nominate its chairman, Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie, as the party's presidential candidate. The party has scheduled a national meeting in July to officially announce Aburizal's presidential bid.
The Great Movement Party (Gerindra) also made a decision to name the party's chief patron, Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto. The National Mandate Party (PAN) has nominated present Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa as its candidate.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is expected to once again nominate its chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, despite her official announcement that she would not run again for the country's top job.
PDI-P lawmaker Arif Wibowo said that the nomination of an independent presidential candidate would not be an effective solution to produce a quality leader for Indonesia simply because the country had adopted a presidential system.
"I don't understand how an independent candidate, when elected president, will be responsible for what he or she has done. Will it be he or she alone or with his or her family? There seems to be no constitutional foundation to regulate such issues," he said.
Arif said the only way to produce a quality leader was to amend the 2008 presidential election law to create a better mechanism for their selection.
"Lawmakers must sit and discuss all provisions to be included in the bill. For example, we must decide whether or not we need to keep a 20 percent minimum threshold, or should we make it higher or lower by projecting the result of the 2014 legislative election.
Although the House of Representatives is yet to formally begin deliberating the presidential election bill, factions at the House have begun debating a number of issues. Factions are already at odds over the minimum requirements for political parties to be allowed to nominate candidates.
Major factions at the House, namely the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, have expressed their preference to revert to the 2008 Presidential Election Law, which requires parties to win at least 20 percent of House seats, or 25 percent of popular votes to be eligible to be nominated as a candidate.