“When lawmakers are mulling a legislative plan, be very, very afraid.” So goes a classic adage warning of anxieties about an impending law tailor-made to defend politicians’ interests rather than the public.

A piece of such ominous news came from the House of Representatives very recently. Lawmakers stirred up a fresh political commotion after they floated the idea of allowing convicted criminals placed on probation to run for regional elections.

They knew perfectly well that the proposal was not only immoral but also against Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections, which states that to qualify for candidacy, a person must never have been convicted of any crime by a court of law.

 But, with the support of the Home Ministry, the legislators also knew equally well how to force their way: pressuring the General Elections Commission (KPU) to adapt its Regulation No. 5/2016 on regional elections.

The proposition was put on the table during a regular hearing between legislators, KPU commissioners and Home Ministry officials amid preparations for the upcoming round of simultaneous regional elections scheduled for Feb. 15 next year.

Proponents have argued that people on probation should still fully retain their political rights because a verdict that allows the accused to remain in the community is not final in nature until they have completed their probation or been sent to jail for a repeat offense. What’s more, they are insistent that probation is typically handed down to people who commit petty crimes.

The KPU begs to differ, believing that probation is unquestionably a guilty verdict and the interpretation should not be overstretched. But the problem is if lawmakers and the government eventually agree to alter the law, the KPU has no power to stop it.

However, it seems that doomsday is not a certainty yet; well, at least it will not come anytime soon. Fierce popular resistance aside, not all political factions in the House and government bureaucracy are happy about the idea.

Arteria Dahlan, a lawmaker from the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for example, has openly opposed it, calling the advocates’ arguments “misguided”, which could set off an unnecessary political uproar.

After the plan met with a torrent of criticism, the Home Ministry’s director general for regional autonomy Soni Sumarsono clarified the government’s stand; only people on probation for petty crimes will be given the chance but not those guilty of three serious types of offenses — drugs, corruption and pedophilia.

“Basically, we’re doing our best to protect people’s constitutional right to elect their leaders or be elected as leaders,” he told the media.

There is no doubt that the plan to allow crooks on probation to try their luck in local contests for power is a regression in the development of democracy in the country. Politicians’ latest moves to loosen election rules reminds us of last year’s unprecedented simultaneous regional elections, when some candidates hooked up in legal wrangles were allowed to run and, oddly, some triumphed.

This April, the Home Ministry canceled the inauguration of Rokan Hulu regent elect Suparman because he was named a graft suspect. He was not as lucky as another four regents elect who were sworn in early this year despite their suspect status: the mayor of Gunung Sitoli in North Sumatra, Lakhomizaro Zebua; regent of Sabu Raijua in East Nusa Tenggara, Dira Tome; regent of Ngada in East Nusa Tenggara, Marianus Sae; and regent of Maros in South Sulawesi, Hatta Rahman.

Apparently, political parties — which are among the most corrupt and distrusted institutions according to opinion polls — have yet to make their senior members’ ethical track records a prerequisite for candidacy. This has given politics a bad name.

Widespread vote-buying has become an open secret, so much so that people believe money is the most decisive factor in the battle for public jobs. Once a candidate clinches a political job after a costly campaign, he or she thinks of how to recoup the billions of rupiah already spent. It explains why many lawmakers, councilors and state bureaucrats have been prosecuted and convicted for graft.

Chances are that such a short-sighted rule would be challenged at the Supreme Court and the tedious legal process could hamper preparations for the upcoming simultaneous local elections.

The idea of easing regional electoral rules to allow persons on probation to contest elections should be rejected because not only is it against the law but it carries the danger of putting dishonest people in charge of government.

A convict regional leader, albeit on probation, would be an object of ridicule at best and forever hounded by questions of integrity.

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