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RI must change its ineffective electoral system, say experts
Changing Indonesia's ineffective and expensive electoral system would help change the behavior of the country's politicians, a recent study says
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hanging Indonesia's ineffective and expensive electoral system would help change the behavior of the country's politicians, a recent study says.
The study, conducted to assess Indonesia's prospects for growth, equity and democratic governance, recommends a shift away from using various systems in general elections, and adopting a single approach, which it says would reduce problems such as cronyism and money politics.
"Indonesia seems to manage for itself a combination of the worst possible set of electoral systems," said Anthony Saich, the director of the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.
His institution worked in cooperation with the Rajawali Foundation to conduct the study. The study was a part of a long-term project undertaken by the two institutions in research and educational programming of public policy in Asia and particularly Indonesia.
Speaking at a meeting at The Jakarta Post's office on Friday, Saich said the closed-list electoral system was prone to the problem of cronyism. The open-list system, while it overcomes cronyism in selection, magnifies the power of money in the electoral system.
Indonesia has adopted both systems and Saich said both were dysfunctional.
The poor systems in place were blamed as one of the main reasons for the high instance of fraud and mishaps by several aspiring candidates and the election body in last year's general elections.
"There are many factors that shape the behavior of politicians, but this is not helped by the current electoral system that Indonesia is using.
"But you can, over time, begin to shape and begin to change the behavior of politicians. One way of doing that is actually through the electoral system," Saich said.
The study concludes that it would be better for Indonesia to have a single electoral system for all its elections.
Siach said one option for Indonesia might be the electoral system used in Germany, which combines a closed-list system with a single-member-district system, by trying to tie the person elected to a constituency based within a particular area.
He added that the system should also allow a continued role for political parties while enabling representation of smaller parties and single-number-district representatives to be accountable to constituents.
"It needs not only to strengthen the general public but also political institutions and parties, to make them representative of society rather than individuals and cliques, and ensure better policy continuation."
The Rajawali Foundation and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation are planning to run a series of workshops for public officials to further educate them on public policy.
