Kafil Yamin – Concerned about election irregularities, academics are stepping up criticism of last month's poll which saw Minister of Defence Prabowo Subianto declared the country's president-elect on 20 March. Prabowo is to take over from outgoing President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, in October, after a transition period.
Prabowo won amid widespread allegations of fraud and irregularities, preceded by political manoeuvring, with the Constitutional Court allowing Widodo's son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka (36), to stand as Prabowo's vice-presidential running mate, despite a constitutional minimum age requirement of 40.
Some 80% of 205 million registered voters across over 17,000 islands and three time zones headed to polling centres on 14 February, making it the world's largest single-day election. Prabowo won 58.6% of votes. Anies Baswedan, a former governor of Jakarta and minister of education and culture won 24.9%, and Ganjar Pranowo secured 16.5%, according to an announcement by the Election Commission.
Protests by academic community
Academics and student organisations said they were ready to take to the streets to protest against a decline in democratic standards in the elections, after the Election Commission tally came out in favour of Prabowo and his vice-presidential running mate Ganjar Rakabuming Raka, the son of Widodo.
Academics argue legal challenges are necessary for the sake of democracy and supremacy of law. "If foul play, fraud and irregularities are allowed to occur for pragmatic reasons, then it will become habitual. If it does, then sound judgment is dead," Fachruddin Mangunjaya, dean of the faculty of biology and agriculture at the National University, a private institution in Jakarta, told University World News.
Waves of demonstrations by community members and university students have been taking place during March in Jakarta and a number of provinces and districts. On 18 March, hundreds of demonstrators staged a rally in front of the Election Commission office in Jakarta to protest against alleged government intervention during the election.
A group of demonstrators calling themselves the National Coalition of Democracy Guards demanded the House of Representatives exercise its right of inquiry into the election. "We want the House of Representatives to investigate the KPU [Election Commission] counting system and alleged fraud in the voting process," the group's spokesperson, Merry told local media.
"Academics and civil society organisations throughout the country have been expressing concerns over allegedly ethical and legal violations, improper, or you might even say illegal, use of state resources," Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a professor at Indonesia's National Research and Innovation Agency was quoted as saying by the BBC's Newsday programme on 21 March.
"This election in the Reformasi era is less free and fair than previous elections in the post-Suharto period," said Anwar, referring to former Indonesian leader Suharto whose rule lasted till 1998. Since then, in what is known as the Reformasi era, Indonesia has held direct presidential elections and has more open government with the participation of civil society.
Controversies surrounding the 14 February vote also involve Jokowi, who is accused of using his influence in support of the campaign of Probowo and running mate Gibran.
"The public see clear state intervention and Jokowi's political plotting to extend his power to his successors – Prabowo and Gibran. This made the election meaningless," said Abas Satria Utama, a research fellow at the Q Study Club, a discussion group of academics in Bandung, who stated: "This is the least trustworthy election after the Suharto era."
On 14 March hundreds of professors and academics from a number of universities in the Greater Jakarta area gathered at the Universitas Indonesia (UI) campus to declare what they called Seruan Salemba, or Salemba Call – Salemba is the popular name of UI.
The Salemba Call, among other things, reminded Widodo of his constitutional obligation to stand above all parties, respect and maintain the autonomy of the Constitutional Court and to prevent educational institutions from being used for political gain.
"We concluded President Jokowi has violated these constitutional obligations. We call on parliament to launch a comprehensive investigation into alleged abuses of power and reinforce the law and constitution," said Faisal Basri, professor of economics at UI, who took part in the Salemba Call.
Legal challenges
On 27 March Indonesia's Constitutional Court in Jakarta held its first hearing on disputes arising from the presidential election after two losing candidates – Baswedan and Pranowo – filed separate lawsuits against the Election Commission's announcement of Prabowo's victory.
The day after the Election Commission's 20 March announcement, Baswedan filed his legal case, saying the aim was to uphold democracy, and alleging that many irregularities needed to be corrected. Later, on 23 March, Pranowo filed his own petition. "We are ready for the Constitutional Court," head of his legal team Todung Mulya Lubis told the media in Jakarta.
Analysts are pessimistic about the outcome of the lawsuits. "If the losing candidates win the legal suit, then there would be a re-election, which, for one thing, is difficult considering the huge funds required and work needed (for an election), and for another, if the difference in the number of votes is not significant, the MK [Constitutional Court] will turn down the legal suit," said Muhammad Mirahdi, senior lecturer at the Pakuan University in Bogor.
Ramadhan Pohan, senior lecturer at Padjadjaran University, whose doctoral dissertation was on "The identity transformation of Anies Baswedan from academic to politician", said the presidential election should be held again if evidence of fraud is found. He added the candidate involved in the fraud should be disqualified.
"The threat to society is extremely serious if we tolerate fraud and cheating in choosing our national leaders," he told University World News, adding that if left unchecked "it will occur again in the next election".
Legal expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra said a re-election nationally was unlikely. "But there's a possibility of re-elections in a number of voting booths where fraud is suspected," he told the media in Jakarta on 21 March.
According to the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu), irregularities occurred at 2,413 voting booths, where a number of voters allegedly voted more than once. "There is a possibility of re-polling ... at these particular voting booths," Rahmat Bagja, chairman of Bawaslu (the Indonesian Election Supervisory Board), said in Jakarta on 21 March. Bagja said the re-poll should be held at the latest 10 days after the official election is concluded.
President's involvement
Among the alleged irregularities attending the election are reports that the government distributed social aid widely in the middle of the campaign to draw public support for Jokowo's likely lengthened power through Prabowo and Gibran.
According to widespread reports, Jokowi went to certain regions and personally handed out food aid and money to potential voters. Following this, a number of election surveys showed an uptick in Prabowo's popularity, closing in on 50%.
Jokowi ignored established norms of neutrality for a sitting Indonesian president and insisted on his right to take sides in the election, saying repeatedly and publicly there was "nothing wrong" with a president taking sides.
During the campaign, Indonesian lawyers and journalists documented in a number of places, provinces, and districts in Indonesia, how local bureaucrats and regional executives were threatened with corruption investigations if they did not throw their support behind Prabowo and Gibran.
The Asian Network for Free Elections which sent observers to Indonesia noted in its interim report on the elections the "mobilisation and misuse of state resources to sway voter preferences" and cited this as an example of "declining democratic norms" in the country.
Source: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2024032812271483