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Editorial : In with the family…

While the official result of Banten election is due to be announced on Oct

The Jakarta Post
Tue, October 25, 2011

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Editorial : In with the family…

W

hile the official result of Banten election is due to be announced on Oct. 30, incumbent Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah and her running mate Rano Karno look set to avoid a run-off and win the race, making Atut one of the longest serving governors in this country’s reform era.

If her re-election is legally binding, Atut will extend her seven-year term (two years as acting governor and five as elected governor) for another five years until January 2017.

Needless to say, Rano, the incumbent Tangerang deputy regent and former prominent movie actor, played a pivotal role in Atut’s apparent victory, alongside the machinery of major political parties that backed their nomination, including the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Few would dispute, however, that Atut’s grip on power has been maintained by an unshakeable dynasty that has ruled the western tip of Java, formally and informally, for many years and looks likely to continue to do so for many more.

During her first term as definite governor, the political sphere in Banten was characterized by the dynasty’s successful bids for various public posts, the latest being the appointment of Atut’s sister-in-law, Airin Rahmi Diany, as South Tangerang mayor earlier this year — albeit after a poll rerun ordered by the Constitutional Court following allegations of vote rigging.

Earlier, Atut’s stepmother, Heriyani, won the Pandeglang regional election as the running mate of regent candidate Erwan Kurtubi; her brother, Tubagus Haerul Jaman, seized the Serang mayor post; and her sister, Ratu Tatu Chasanah, secured the Serang deputy regent post. Meanwhile, Atut’s husband, Hikmat Tomet, is a lawmaker at the House of Representatives and a member of the Golkar Party, and her son, Andika Hazrumy, is a member of the Regional Representatives Council.

But it doesn’t stop there. Atut’s cousin, Ratu Ella Syatibi, and brother-in-law, Aden Abdul Khaliq, are also members of Banten legislative council, while her daughter-in-law, Adde Rosi Chaerunisa, is a deputy speaker at Serang municipal legislative council.

While members of the Atut dynasty were legitimately elected by popular vote, we can only question the quality of a democracy that has given liberty to local and national elites to build their own political dynasties. In local politics this phenomenon has reached several notable extremes, the above being one example, another evidenced in a head-on clash between the two wives of the outgoing regent of Kediri (East Java) in an election last year.

There is nothing wrong with politicians who groom their children, spouses or nephews to fill in their shoes someday. Democracy cannot do much to restrict citizens from running for public posts and taking advantage of their bloodline, as happened when Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of founding president Sukarno, assumed power in 2001.

In the same vein, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cannot bar his wife and sons from contesting the 2014 presidential election or propose a bill to curb political dynasties in regions.

What democracy cannot tolerate are conflicts of interest that may prompt an incumbent to abuse power in favor of his or her family members. Democracy should ensure equal opportunity and fair treatment for all candidates.

It is the job of political parties to select and educate voters to elect only candidates with credible track records rather than those with unlimited financial resources. At the end of the day, political parties will have to bear the responsibility for elected leaders who fail to comply with their pre-election promises or a democracy that is hijacked by power-hungry political dynasties.

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