The results showed a lack of trust from the younger population in the legislative branch. The House of Representatives scored last. Only 56.5 percent of respondents trusted it, while the President's office won 86.4 percent. Therefore, there is an urgent need to position legislative elections as democratic events that deserve special attention from the public. The public needs to examine legislative elections to ensure quality legislators and laws.

There are three reasons why we need to pay special attention to legislative elections, especially the upcoming one in 2024. First, with the fourth amendment to the 1945 Constitution, a legal policy was formed that is more inclined toward strengthening executive power, especially the presidential system.

History shows a rejection of a solid legislature after the 1959 presidential decree until the reign of Soeharto’s New Order. During the period, executive power on a presidential basis deepened, focusing on strong, charismatic and popular figures.

As a result of the strengthening of the executive, the Indonesian constitutional system has embedded a caesarean tradition akin to the one from the Napoleon Bonaparte era. In Napoleon's conception, this tradition was reflected in the consulate and empire he founded, which was rooted in the Roman temporary dictatorship system that emphasized the strength of the executive power supported by the widespread support of the people (Boyron, 2013).

Second, based on political constitutional law, which leans toward the caesarean tradition, the public narrative emphasizes presidential and vice-presidential candidacies ahead of elections, thus neglecting the urgency of legislative elections. This provides impetus for us to encourage strengthening the legislature through in-depth attention to legislative elections.

Strengthening legislative capacity can be reflected in the quality of lawmakers, which can materialize through strengthening political parties. This demands politicians who possess a combination of wisdom, integrity, modesty and intelligence.

Improvements to the legislature’s capacity will stimulate public participation and raise the standard of public reason and civic trust. Furthermore, increasing the quality of the legislative power will optimize the checks and balances mechanism stipulated in Article 20A of the 1945 Constitution.

The House’s functioning oversight will give the executive no room to practice dictatorship within the constitutional democracy or become a spin dictator. According to Guriev and Triesman (2022), spin dictators do not rely on repression or use of violence but on manipulation of information using conventional and social media to gain popularity and public trust, as well as use of democratic legal instruments.

Therefore, strengthening the legislature will keep the nation safe from spin dictators while at the same time stimulating a solid and balanced constitutional tradition.

Looking back at the drafting of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, the Job Creation Law and the new Criminal Code, it was evident that the House ignored public participation but opted for fast-track legislation that did not necessarily live up to public aspirations

One of the most substantial efforts to enhance the quality of legislative power is establishing a platform for discussion to test the ideas and initiatives of each political party participating in the 2024 elections. This colloquium can only be formed through bold and progressive steps from the General Elections Commission (KPU) as a form of political engineering.

There are five benefits we can reap if the colloquium can materialize. First, we can improve the quality of the democratic constitutional system. Second, we can encourage broader public participation in testing the ideas and programs promoted by the political parties contesting the election. Third, we can give a level playing field to new political parties to present their ideas and programs.

Fourth, the colloquium will help provide political education for citizens. Fundamentally, political education aims to preserve a healthy political culture that has lasting value in the public sphere. Furthermore, political education prevents haphazard and anarchic democratic life, thus impacting the quality of political decision-making, which is lousy, irrational and easily lured by wealth or honor (Setyo Wibowo, 2017).

Lastly, this forum will create a political order based on public reasoning and rational politics. In another sense, a colloquium to debate the ideas and programs of political parties prevents the development of populism as a thin ideology that populist politicians can combine with thick ideologies such as nationalism, neoliberalism and socialism (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017), which have been driven by fear, anger and frustration.

In the Indonesian context, populism grows strong by sticking to religion, giving genesis to identity politics based on sentiment, irrationality or emotion.

However, there are potential obstacles related to efforts to create a rational political order reflected in forums for debating ideas rooted in the reluctance of established political parties to create new constitutional traditions.

It is because efforts to work on constituencies have more strategic value than forming a new constitutional tradition. Therefore, the KPU leadership is crucial in creating political breakthroughs.

Leadership must be based on courage, wisdom and self-restraint. These three virtues are likened to the KPU playing the gegenpressing soccer strategy targeting political parties that are reluctant to, if not resisting, change. Conceptually, gegenpressing, popularized by German coaches Ralf Rangnick and Jurgen Klopp, emphasizes counterpressing and intercepting possession of the opponent's ball intensely, thus opening transitional momentum, which also includes effective counterattacks to other areas of defense (Michael Cox, 2019).

In closing, in the context of establishing a new constitutional tradition, there are potential obstacles, namely; the absence of political will from established political parties toward a progressive political culture.

Therefore, the KPU must have the courage to encourage a progressive political culture that promotes public debate while adhering to the fundamental reasons for elections in Indonesia, namely realization of people's sovereignty based on social justice.

 

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The writer is a researcher of politics and social change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta.