The government wants to return gubernatorial elections to provincial legislatures for the sake of efficiency, given the reduced function of governors under regional autonomy, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said.

“In preparing the local elections bill, the government has decided to return gubernatorial elections to provincial legislatures because the position of governor is no longer as strategic or powerful as before,” Gamawan said, commenting on the expensive gubernatorial elections.

Governors were primarily central government representatives in the provinces, while now they coordinate in cross-border disputes and inter-regional affairs, he said.

“Regents and mayors cannot skip governors when coordinating with the central government,” he said, adding that Jakarta still controls a large part of provincial affairs.

“It would be a waste to allocate a huge amount of funds and energy to organize and finance direct gubernatorial elections,” he said.

If the House of Representatives agreed, the minister said, governors could be appointed by the President — just as in the old days.

Gamawan, the former governor of West Sumatra, said impressions of gubernatorial power have been influenced by the past, when governors were indeed “kings”.

Today, authority has been delegated to regencies and municipalities at the expense of governors.

Previously, governors were predominantly army generals who had the authority to make all strategic decisions and policies, including the nomination of regent and mayor candidates.

Hadar Gumay, executive director for the Centre for Electoral Reforms (Cetro) said Indonesia should not fall into the same hole as before.

The direct election of governors has been good for the nation, analysts said, as the new political tradition forces the government, including governors, to be accountable to the people.

The proposal to end the direct election of governors “will also create an oligarchy because governors would be elected by a small political elite in the provincial legislature,” said Burhanuddin Muchtadi, of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI).

This would lead to more opportunities for bribery by those who hope to curry favor with governors, he said.

Efficiency was “relative” given large spending by gubernatorial campaigns, which actually helps stimulate economic growth in the provinces, the critics agreed.

If the gubernatorial races are considered too costly — with the last official budget in East Java alone reaching Rp 160 billion — the government and the House of Representatives should revise the law to limit campaign funds and expenditures during the campaign season, they said.

“The direct election system just needs detailed regulations to make it more efficient and accountable,” said Hadar.

Ray Rangkuti, executive director of another election watchdog, the Indonesian Voters Committee (Tepi), said local polls should be integrated into the general elections for efficiency, and to better ensure consistency among political parties in a coalition.

Currently, local elections have produced diverse coalitions in races for governors, regents and mayors throughout the country.

Much of the budget could be saved and the election could be simplified by implementing a high parliamentary threshold to reach a simple multiparty system, Ray said.

“The House and the government should have the courage to make a decisive political decision to pursue a stronger and better democracy with only three or four big parties at the House,” he said.

Future debates will center on the dilemma between effective government and less representation in the absence of smaller parties.

For now, analysts Burhanuddin and Arbi Sanit questioned government inaction amid chaotic local elections and reports of rampant bribery.

“The reform movement and regional autonomy will fail if democracy is reduced to [mere procedures of]  local elections, instead of really seeking regional heads with strong leadership to develop regions and improve social welfare,” Arbi said.

Burhanuddin said that the home minister “has not shown the political courage to make the General Election Commission devise the regulations needed to improve the quality of local elections, nor to revise the law on local elections with the House.”

Members of the current session of the House and the Regional Representative Council (DPD), which started in October 2009, have given top priority to the law on local elections, which would be a revision of Law No. 22/2007 on organizing general elections.

Yet there is no sign the law will be finished this year, leaving election officials, candidates and voters in the hundreds of local elections scheduled for this year working under the existing legal framework — with all its shortcomings.

“The President and the home minister cannot evade responsibility for chaotic local elections and widespread graft among local elites,” Burhanuddin said.

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