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Strong legislative support required for smooth governance
Dress rehearsal: Vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla (second from left) shakes hands with Peopleâs Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speaker Oesman Sapta as president-elect Joko âJokowiâ Widodo (left) and other MPR leaders look on during a presidential inauguration rehearsal on Sunday
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span class="inline inline-center">Dress rehearsal: Vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla (second from left) shakes hands with People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) deputy speaker Oesman Sapta as president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (left) and other MPR leaders look on during a presidential inauguration rehearsal on Sunday. JP/Awo
Ahead of the presidential inauguration, political observers remind lawmakers to support the government, as that is key for maintaining the country's stability.
Citing a study conducted in 192 local administrations, a political analyst with polling company Indikator Politik Indonesia, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said that weak support from political parties that control Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD), could throw local administrative programs into limbo.
'If local administrative programs are not working then it will have a negative impact on local economies,' Burhanuddin said in a discussion in Jakarta.
He said the study also found that local administrations that did not have strong support from their DPRDs tended to spend more on budget posts that do not make direct contributions to people.
'In order to coax local DPRD members to approve development programs, a local administration tries to increase its budget for civil servant recruitment so that it could recruit people who are affiliated to political parties. It could also be that a local administration will grant procurement projects to contractors affiliated to political parties,' Burha-nuddin said.
He added that the study did not find such dirty practices in local administrations that managed to secure political support from major parties at regional legislative offices.
Despite a victory in the July presidential election, president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's coalition of political parties has been overshadowed by the coalition of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Prabowo's Red-and-White Coalition, controlling a majority of the House of Representatives, sealed its domination over the legislatures by securing the leadership posts of both the House of Representatives (DPR) and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Prabowo's coalition had also sponsored the controversial Regional Elections (Pilkada) Law that revoked direct elections for regional heads, a system that had run in the country for a decade.
The loss of Jokowi's coalition in the House over Pilkada has raised concerns that there would be more laws and amendments passed that will represent drawbacks for the country's economy and democracy.
Politicians from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), for example, have famously proposed amendments to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law to withdraw some of the authority of the country's most prominent law enforcement body to fight corruption.
'Jokowi should understand that political stability between the executive and legislative branches would ensure economic stability. Jokowi should show the public that he could become a political commander who will intensify communications with political opponents at the House,' Burhanuddin said.
However, the KPK's deputy chairman, Bambang Widjojanto, who was also involved in the discussion, contested the significance of the legislative support, saying that good economic growth in regions that have good executive-legislative partnerships may also indicate the presence of corrupt practices.
'Establishing good relationships between legislatures and executives could result in the weak control of the legislature over the executive's programs,' Bambang told the audience to the discussion.
He also warned that good relationships between executive and legislative bodies may indicate the presence of a political dynasty.
Bambang further said that most of the regional heads the KPK arrested red-handed accepting bribes from businessmen over land permits were those who had strong support from the DPRDs in their respective regions.
'The legislative bodies should intensify their supervision over land permits, but when local governments and local representatives are involved in deep relationships with each other, it seems like the regional legislative councils close their eyes to the control of the local administration,' Bambang said.
