An Introduction to the Indonesian Political System Faisol Riza Department of Labour Republic of Indonesia [email protected].

An Introduction to the Indonesian Political System

Faisol Riza

Department of Labour Republic of Indonesia

[email protected]

Ethical Colonial (Volksraad) Independence (KNIP) Liberal Democracy (Konsituante) Guided Democracy (Dewan Nasional) Pancasila’s Democracy Transition to Democracy Democracy

The election occurred in two stages:

The election of the People’s Representative Council (DPR), which took place on 29 September 1955. Twenty-nine political parties and individuals took part;

The election for the members of the Constitutional Assembly (Konstituante), which took place on 15 December 1955.

The five largest parties in the election were the National Party of Indonesia (Partai Nasional Indonesia), Masyumi, Nahdlatul Ulama, the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Komunis Indonesia, PKI), and the Indonesian Islamic Union Party (Partai Syarikat Islam Indonesia).

Separatist movements in Sumatera and Sulawesi

Military internal conflict The Konstituante was dissolved, failed to agree

on a new constitution and led to disunity. Back to Constitution 1945 by presidential

decree on 5 July 1959. The Opposition pointed that the decree was

road to an ototitarian system. People’s Representative Council was replaced

by a new appointed People’s Representative Council – New

People’s Representative Assembly – New NASAKOM Front

Characteristics of Pancasila’s Democracy   Sovereignty is in the hands of the people. Always based on family and gotong-royong (reciprocal collaboration). New system where the decision-making process goes through

deliberation to achieve consensus mufakat. Say No to the Government and the opposition party. Recognized the existence of the harmony between rights and

obligations. Respect of human rights. Government expressed Disapproval of the wisdom and channeled

through the Representatives of the people. No demonstrations and strikes as detrimental to all parties. Not embraced to monoparty system. Elections held in overflowing. Floating system for election. Say No to dictatorship of the majority and the tyranny of the minority. Give precedence to the interests of the people or the public interest.

Beginning of the New Order (1971) The first election after the establishment of the “New

Order” took place on 5 July 1971. Ten political parties participated.

The five largest political parties were Golkar, Nahdlatul Ulama, the Muslim Party of Indonesia (Parmusi), the Indonesian National party and the Indonesian Islamic Union Party.

Elections under the New Order (1977–1997) Elections following the mergers were held under the

government of President Suharto. In accordance with the legislation, these were contested by three groups; Golkar, the PPP and the PDI. All elections in this period were won by Golkar.

To ensure that Golkar always won more than 60 percent of the popular vote, the New Order regime used a number of tactics. These included:

Reducing the number of opponents: In 1973, the existing political parties were forced to merge into the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). These were the only parties allowed to contest general elections.

Weakening the remaining opponents: The two political parties were forbidden to criticize government policy, and the government had to approve all slogans they used. Furthermore, they were not allowed to organize at the village level (where the majority of Indonesians live). To stop the rise of charismatic figures, their candidates had to be vetted by the government. When a potentially charismatic figure (in the form of founding president Sukarno's daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri) became leader of the PDI, the government engineered a political convention in Medan in 1996 to remove her. Ironically, the ensuing disturbances at the PDI's Jakarta headquarters began a chain of events that indirectly led to the downfall of the New Order.

Coercion to vote Golkar: Civil servants were ordered to support Golkar, or face accusations of insubordination. Private sector workers were reminded of the need for "stability". Many people believed the vote was not secret, and the government did little to persuade them otherwise. Many voters were still at school, and they were warned by teachers of a link between their choice at the ballot box and exam success.

The vote-counting process: The Golkar votes were counted first, then those of the two other parties. In the 1997 election, by 9pm on the day after voting, Golkar had already been awarded 94% of its eventual vote. By contrast, the PPP had been credited with less than 10% of its final tally.

Vote-rigging: Although the counting at the local ballot boxes was conducted in public, with the ballot papers held up and the scores marked on boards, it was at the later stages where irregularities were frequently reported.

Multiple voting: There was no effective way of determining who had already voted, allowing many to do so more than once

Voter registration and turnout, 1955–1997

Year Registered voters Voter turnout %

1955 43,104,464 37,875,299 87.86

1971 58,558,776 54,699,509 93.41

1977 70,378,750 63,998,344 90.93

1982 82,134,195 75,126,306 91.47

1987 93,965,953 85,869,816 91.38

1992 107,605,697 97,789,534 90.88

1997 124,740,987 112,991,160 90.58

Source: Ariwibowo et al. 1997, p. 23

General Election (vote for People’s Representative Council / Regional Representative Council / Provincial Legislative Election / Municipal Legislative Election)

Presidential Election (Since 2004) Governor Election (Since 2005) Mayor Election (Since 2005)

1999 Elections

The 1999 Eelection was the first election held after the collapse of the New Order. It was held on June 7, 1999 under the government of Jusuf Habibie. Forty-eight political parties participated.

The six largest parties which passed the electoral threshold of 2% were the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan), the reformed Golkar Party, the United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan), the National Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa), the National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional), and the Crecent Star Party (Partai Bulan Bintang).

Under the constitution, the new President was elected by members of both houses of Parliament in a joint sitting. This meant that although the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle won the largest share of the popular vote, the new President was not its nominee, Megawati Soekarnoputri, but Abdurrahman Wahid from the National Awakening Party. Megawati became Vice-President.

2002 Elections During its 2002 annual session, the People’s

Consultative Assembly (MPR) added 14 amendments to the Constitutional on Indonesia. Included in these amendments were measures to reorganize the Indonesia legislature. Beginning in 2004, the MPR would be composed of the existing People’s Representative Council (DPR) and a new Regional Representatice Council (DPD). Because all the seats in the MPR would be directly elected, this called for the removal of the miltary from the legislature, whose 38 seats for the 1999–2004 period were all appointed. This change and an amendment for direct election of the President and Vice President were major steps for Indonesia on the road towards a full democracy.

2004 Elections The 2004 legislative election was held on April 5.

A total of 24 parties contested the election. The Golkar Party won the largest share of the vote, at 21.6%, followed by the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle, the National Awakening Party, the United Development Party and newly formed Democratic Party. 17 parties won legislative seats. In 2004, for first time was held presidential election directly and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (leader of Democratic party) elected as first president elected by new system.

2009 Elections

In the 2009 election The Democratic Party, in the second his participation in the election, won the largest share of the vote and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (leader of Democratic Party).

Since 2005, 33 governors and more than 450 mayors in Indonesia were elected directly by people for 5 years. The first time regent election directly held by people in Indonesia was the Kutai Kartanegara mayor (1 June 2005). This is a consequence of the agreed regional autonomy (decentralization) as a political system. In the New Order era, all of them were elected by local parliament and everything was held by a centralized system.

We have many problem with this new system but we won’t to going back to centralization.

In the world only Indonesia and Chile had adopted together at the same time a multiparty’s system and a presidential system.

The Indonesian Cabinet is supported by political parties coalition.

In the presidential system, the cabinet is appointed and dismissed by the President. Uniquely, in Indonesia, although appointed by the President, the cabinet must be responsible to the Parliament too.