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The week in review: Protests and maneuvers
On Friday Indonesians were in shock over the result of the House of Representativesâ plenary session, which began late Thursday, and which has led us back to the days of indirect elections for governors, regents and mayors
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n Friday Indonesians were in shock over the result of the House of Representatives' plenary session, which began late Thursday, and which has led us back to the days of indirect elections for governors, regents and mayors. From Washington, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also expressed his disappointment, including over the walk-out maneuver of his own Democrat Party, which caused the defeat of the pro-direct election camp.
Yudhoyono said his party would take legal action, and as President he said he was extremely reluctant to sign the new law, but nobody was listening.
Amid public uproar expressed through the Twitter hashtag #ShameonyouSBY, individuals and civil organizations signed petitions and made immediate preparations to demand a judicial review of the new law by the Constitutional Court.
The Red-and-White Coalition led by Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra Party communicated the feelings of many who are sick of direct elections, which have led to widespread corruption in the form of candidates bribing potential voters and then paying back their political debts.
But many others differentiate the excess of direct elections from the hard-won citizen's right to choose one's leader and from corrupt practices that happen for any other reason.
The latest case is the arrest of Riau Governor Annas Maamun. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) caught him and members of his family red-handed, it said, in a housing complex in East Jakarta.
The KPK said Annas was caught accepting money from a businessman in the palm oil industry.
Following the House's vote, the outspoken Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said things would be business as usual ' with no direct elections to prepare for, he said he would just focus on fixing the capital for the next three years of his term. He is busy facing his own protesters, the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), whose members flocked to the Jakarta Legislative Council building on Wednesday.
The members marched peacefully and unfurled banners which read: 'Hey Ahok, shut up!', and expressed their refusal to accept Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent who will replace Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, after the latter is inaugurated by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as seventh president on Oct. 20.
They called on the council not to inaugurate Ahok as governor given his perceived arrogance and insensitivity regarding issues of ethnicity, religion and race. Ahok should not lead Jakarta, they said, because it is a majority Muslim city. The FPI are also worried that Ahok intends to carry out a process of Christianization by installing Christians as leaders of Muslim-majority areas.
The protesters dispersed after their complaints were received by City Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Prasetio said it would be impossible for the council not to inaugurate Ahok as his ascension was automatic according to existing regulations.
Councilor Hasan Basri Umar stated that Indonesia was not an Islamic country and that all its citizens were obliged to abide by the Constitution without exceptions.
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The other drama of the week was Wednesday's decision by the Corruption Court to sentence former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum to eight years in prison and a fine of Rp 300 million (US$24,900) for graft and money laundering. The verdict ended not only the graft trial, but also a long saga of rent-seeking practices.
The sentence against Anas, who was also ordered to pay Rp 57 billion in restitution to the state, or have his assets seized, was delivered by the court amid the uncovering of many other cases of rampant corruption.
The rent-seeking practices largely involve collection of money from government projects financed by the state budget, such as the construction of the multi-billion rupiah Hambalang sports complex in Bogor, West Java.
The Anas case involves high-ranking officials of the ruling Democratic Party, including former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng and former legislator Angelina Sondakh, now all behind bars.
The drama reached its peak when the KPK named Anas a suspect in the Hambalang graft case in February 2013. This led Anas to quit his position as the Democratic Party's chairman.
Anas' sentencing coincided with the last days of the tenure of the government of Yudhoyono, who had just said goodbye to world leaders at the UN Climate Summit in New York.
Following the Thursday night-Friday morning House plenary session, one Facebook status read, 'Bye bye SBY'.
In their last plenary session before their term ends on Sept. 30, lawmakers also rushed through several laws apart from the one on regional elections, including the law on military discipline to replace a 1997 law, a fairly easy one compared to another bill over a decade old, the bill on military tribunals.
A bolder batch of lawmakers oriented to the electorate is among the public's expectations for the new men and women to be installed on Oct. 1.
' Hyginus Hardoyo
