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Editorial: The politics of revenge
In the space of five days, the Red-and-White Coalition has savored two consolation wins that clearly serve as a warning: that despite its failure to secure the presidency, its political clout remains and its claws will be deeply planted in the national decision-making process
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n the space of five days, the Red-and-White Coalition has savored two consolation wins that clearly serve as a warning: that despite its failure to secure the presidency, its political clout remains and its claws will be deeply planted in the national decision-making process.
This should not be a cause for concern. Neither should it be detrimental to democracy, as it should strengthen the checks and balances mechanism. But one cannot deny that the motive behind the passing of the bill on legislative institutions that was on Monday upheld by the Constitutional Court, albeit not unanimously, and the law on regional elections (Pilkada), which will soon be challenged at the same court, was simply revenge.
The Pilkada Law will assure 32 gubernatorial posts for the Red-and-White Coalition, not to mention regency and mayoral posts in regions where it gains control. The Legislative Institution Law, popularly known by its acronym MD3, was endorsed with the absence of political parties supporting presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo on the eve of the July 9 presidential election.
Following the Constitutional Court's verdict on the MD3 Law, the coalition that supported losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto will distribute among itself leadership seats at the House of Representatives and its commissions and supporting bodies as soon as the new House members for the 2014-2019 term are installed on Wednesday. The Golkar Party will most likely claim the House speaker post and some Golkar leaders have confirmed the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker job will go the Democratic Party in exchange for its abstention in the Pilkada bill vote last week.
In turning down the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) motion against the MD3 Law, six of the eight Constitutional Court justices hearing the case said the mechanism to elect House leaders and House commission leaders could vary from time to time depending on the legislative body's will without contradicting the Constitution. But justices Maria Farida Indrati and Arif Hidayat, who both dissented from the opinion of the rest of the panel, rightly stated that such changes constituted inconsistency and generated legal certainty, which clearly run counter to the law-making principles. This, sadly, was not taken into account.
Like it or not, the court's verdict has provided an incentive for the politics of revenge to continue. With the Red-and-White Coalition dominating the House, many have expressed fear that the hostile legislature will do anything to block the government's programs.
The logical consequence is political instability, which will prevent president-elect Jokowi from effectively governing the nation, let alone fulfilling his campaign promises, at the expense of the majority of Indonesian people who voted for him in July.
Or else the current political setting will force Jokowi to make one compromise after another to appease his opponents, which would violate his own pledge to avoid 'transactional politics'. The reform movement in 1998 allowed democracy to flourish in the country, but has at the same time let these power-hungry politicians hijack democracy.
