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Tight lobbies topple Jokowi camp by a thread
President-elect Joko âJokowiâ Widodoâs Great Indonesia Coalition has proven that it is an equal match to opposition bloc the Red-and-White Coalition in the competition to secure leadership of the Peopleâs Consultative Assembly (MPR)
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President-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's Great Indonesia Coalition has proven that it is an equal match to opposition bloc the Red-and-White Coalition in the competition to secure leadership of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Backed by members of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), the Jokowi coalition was short 17 votes in a close vote that eventually gave victory to the Red-and-White Coalition's nomination package.
The voting session, which ran from Tuesday night until early Wednesday saw members of the House of Representatives, along with DPD members vote for a speaker and four deputies for the MPR, a bicameral assembly that comprises House and DPD members.
The session wrapped with the Red-and-White Coalition triumphing, placing Zulkifli Hasan of the National Mandate Party (PAN), who is also a former forestry ministry, as the new MPR speaker; and the Golkar Party's Mahyudin, Democratic Party's EE Mangindaan and the Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) Hidayat Nur Wahid as his deputies, in addition to DPD member Oesman Sapta, who was nominated in the Great Indonesia Coalition package.
The Red-and-White coalition, which controls the majority of the House, garnered 347 of the total 677 votes in the joint voting session.
Unlike House members, who are formal representatives of political factions within the legislative institution, the 130 DPD members are, by definition, representatives of their regions of origin, which liberates them from the interests of political parties.
The Great Indonesia Coalition has earned formal support from the DPD as it accommodated the council's aspiration to have Oesman Sapta of West Kalimantan nominated for MPR speaker.
Oesman was nominated along with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)'s Ahmad Basarah, the National Awakening Party's (PKB) Imam Nachrowi, the NasDem Party's Patrice Rio Capella and the United Development Party's (PPP) Hasrul Azwar as deputy speaker candidates.
The Red-and-White Coalition only gave Oesman a deputy speaker position.
The thin vote margin, according to observers, however, is proof that, behind closed doors, DPD members are still closely affiliated with political parties. Voting, however, was carried out privately in private booths. 'Although DPD members work individually in nature, they are still affiliated with political parties in one way or another. Some of them, for example, are party politicians. They need support from political parties to reach out to regions, particularly large ones,' political analyst Ari Dwipayana from Gadjah Mada University said Wednesday.
'Thus, such political affiliation influences their decisions. Support was obviously divided [in the selection of MPR speakers],' he emphasized.
Golkar deputy chairman Fadel Muhammad cited the significant role of DPD members in endorsing the Red-and-White Coalition's leadership candidates and claimed that Golkar had worked to divide the DPD, which originally agreed to collectively endorse Oesman.
Fadel claimed that he had used his network across the archipelago to divide the DPD.
'I am a former chairman of the Association of Indonesia's Governors, thus I have a strong network in the DPD. This is how we were able to divide its support,' Fadel said as quoted by Kompas.com.
Lawmakers who requested anonymity said vote-buying played a part in swaying DPD members to support Zulkifli of PAN, who was once questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for alleged graft, instead of Oesman; an allegation that politicians have declined to respond to.
Arya Budi from the Jakarta-based Pol-Tracking Institute said that 'anything is possible behind the swing of support from DPD members'.
'DPD is not as solid as political parties. It is thus easy to approach its members individually in exchange for either financial gain or political backing. The long recess to allow political lobbying during the voting session signaled it,' Arya said.
Zulkifli's list of controversies
Zulkifli Hasan. JP
1. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned Forestry Minister and National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Zulkifli Hasan in June for his alleged role in the bribery scandal surrounding the decision to turn 3,000 hectares of protected forest in Bogor, West Java, into a commercial housing project.
Zulkifli was questioned as a witness for a suspect in the case, Francis Xaverius Yohan, an executive of construction company PT Bumi Jonggol Asri (BJA), whose 65 percent share was controlled by PT Sentul City.
Speaking after five hours of questioning at KPK headquarters, Zulkifli denied that his office had issued a permit for BJA.
2. Zulkifli became the subject of ridicule in September last year after a video showed him engaging in a heated conversation with Hollywood actor Harrison Ford, who challenged the minister over the destruction of the Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau.
The footage was from Years of Living Dangerously, a documentary series about climate change that is set to be broadcast next year on the US TV network Showtime.
In the video, Ford lost his cool after getting vague answers from Zulkifli on why the destruction occurred.
Ford was visibly furious upon hearing that Zulkifli blamed democracy for the forest's destruction.
'One thing that you have to know is that we are in the early stages of democracy, but we are sure that we will achieve balance in the long term in our forest,' said Zulkifli.
After the interview, Zulkifli's tone was harsh, calling Ford's statements 'cornering'.
Zulkifli later clarified the incident with Ford during the interview. 'He was emotional during the interview. I can understand his love for the environment and rainforests.'
'He asked me why all the 20,000 local residents in Kalimantan involved in illegal deforestation were not arrested? I said we used a welfare approach because this was about people who were mostly poor. But he got mad and accused us of being corrupt for letting them go free,' Zulkifli said.
