JakartaPost-Sept 30
Calls to safeguard a planned revision to election rules intensify, as pro-democracy advocates urge lawmakers to push for meaningful reform for the electoral system and put public interests and democratic consolidation at the center of the plan. The calls for meaningful political reform followed a late-August unrest that was fueled by public anger over economic inequality, police brutality and arrogance and lavish housing allowance for lawmakers, who are meant to serve the public. Discussions on the much-awaited revision are set to begin next year, with lawmakers exploring the possibility of combining all laws governing elections and political parties into a sweeping omnibus law. Several controversial proposed changes to the electoral system have been raised by some major political parties in the government-controlled House, including abolishing direct regional head elections in favor of having governors and mayors be appointed by regional legislatures (DPRDs), a model similar to that used during the authoritarian New Order regime. Another contentious proposal to ditch the prevailing open-list voting system for legislative elections has also resurfaced. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Wednesday that it would support a closed-list system, in which voters solely vote for parties that in turn exclusively decide the winning candidates proportionate to the number of votes won. Pro-democracy advocates, including the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), say that any reforms to the election system must prioritize a shift in focus from mere electoral interests to the protection of popular sovereignty and the “consolidation of democracy”. Read more at:
