Jakarta, Sept 13 (Antara) - Many are opposed to the draft law,
currently being deliberated by the House of Representatives (DPR), for
electing regional heads through an indirect election.
At the same time, direct election is also being termed a costly political affair in terms of resources required.
"Electing a regional head through a direct election will need huge
funds, but for the sake of preserving democracy in the country, it is
imperative to do so," the spokesman of the General Elections Commission
(KPU) for East Nusa Tenggara, Lodowyk Frederik, said in Kupang on
Friday.
However, the House of Representatives is currently deliberating the
bill which, if endorsed, will entrust the job of electing these regional
heads to the Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD).
Frederik said when an election was held to choose the Mayor of Kupang
City in 2012, it had cost some Rp16 billion. The funds were used to
finance various activities and logistics to conduct the elections.
These
included the huge operational cost of conducting the election, down to
the polling stations, verification of candidates, publicity and
mechanisms to deal with any possible dispute regarding the election to
be dealt by the Constitutional Court (MK).
He said all these activities needed a lot of funds in order to ensure that the election passed off smoothly.
"This (amount) did not include funds spent in the field by the
candidates themselves. The amount must be even bigger but it could not
be ascertained because it was spent by individuals," he added.
He said ushering in and enhancing democracy needed astronomical amount
of funds but the high cost of elections could not be used as a reason to
change the system to elect directly the regional heads, and instead
giving that power to the DPRD.
The district governments are also opposing the proposal being deliberated by the Parliament.
The All-Indonesia District Government Association (APKASI) is opposed
to the proposal to empower the local legislative assembly (DPRD) to
elect regional heads, arguing that it runs counter to the mandate of
reform movements.
"Election of the regional heads, involving direct participation of the
people, is one outcome of the 1998 reform struggle. Therefore, the
system of electing regional heads directly is more transparent and we
must not revert to the DPRD system," APKASI General Chairman Isran Noor
said last week.
Vesting the power to elect regional heads in the DPRD amounts to depriving people of their political right, he said.
However, Salim Segaf Al Jufri, a politician of the Prosperous Justice
party (PKS) who is also the minister of social affairs, said that not
all direct elections had produced good regional heads.
"In
the past ten years, the regional heads have been elected directly but
the arrangement produced mixed results. Of the elected regional heads,
320 were named as suspects in various corruption cases. This is because
the money game is admittedly terrible," the minister said in Semarang,
Central Java, on Friday.
Reminding about some negative aspects of directly electing regional
heads, he said it was difficult to prevent bad practices when big money
was involved.
"We
should admit that there is this negative aspect but there are also good
aspects. There have been many successful regional heads," he added.
He
said that one should not think that the existing system could not be
changed, including the law regarding regional heads' election. "We
should study and analyze its advantages and disadvantages."
"I
think we should not think of the interest of various groups, regions,
parties, racial groups or whatever, but only of what is best for all of
us and for the nation," said Salim.
In the meantime, Muslim clerics from East Java's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
underlined the disadvantages of directly electing regional heads.
The head of the Legal Council of East Java's NU Branch (PWNU),
Miftachul Akhyar, said that direct elections had wrongly impacted the
mindset of the Indonesian people, and did more harm than good.
Responding
to the bill on indirect regional head elections, Akhyar said that the
Central Board of NU had discussed it during its congress in Cirebon,
West Java, on September 15-17, 2012.
"The
NU discussed it long ago. Its Muslim clerics agreed that reverting to a
system of indirect elections will prevent further damage," he stated.
Akhyar
mentioned three aspects that saw significant harm being done: the
conflict among the people, the high cost of politics which justifies
unscrupulous means and vested interests misleading common people who do
not understand politics.
Akhyar's opinion on the high cost of politics is shared by Prof Dr HM
Norsanie Darlan of the Palangka Raya University in Central Kalimantan.
"Elections of governor, district head and mayor are costly. This is
besides the cost incurred in case any unrest breaks out and the dispute
has to be taken to the Constitutional Court," he told Antara in
Banjarmasin, South Kalimtan, on Wednesday.
He said that the cost is not confined to just money but also in terms
of psychological and social cost if direct elections end in conflicts.
Norsanie Darlan did not point out what was the best alternative to
electing regional heads directly but said the indirect elections
conducted through the DPRD were still preferred as it has been a tried
and tested system for decades.
However, political observer Nur Hasan of the University of Jember, East
Java, said indirect election through the DPRD was against the political
system of Indonesia which has a presidential system.
"Article 18, point 4 of the 1945 Constitution should be construed
comprehensively as it means that the President is directly elected by
the people. So, this mechanism should also be applied to the regional
heads' election (heads of provinces/districts/municipalities)," Nur
Hasan argued.
In the presidential system, the executive and legislative powers are
mandated by the people through direct elections. In the post-reforms
era, direct elections had been held with good stability in an effort to
build a good democracy.
"If
the governors, district heads and mayors are elected by the DPRD, then
the legislative body can fire regional heads and this contradicts the
presidential system. It could even become contradictory to the
Indonesian democratic process," he noted.
Therefore, he said, the high cost incurred in direct elections cannot
become a reason to revert to the system of indirect election by the
DPRD.***1***
(T.A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 13-09-2014 21:57 |
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