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Acting regional leader appointment sets off debate
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Medical workers carry a fainted voter during a simulation of regional elections in Banyuwangi, East Java on Sept. 14, 2020. The simulation was held as part of preparations for the 2020 simultaneous regional elections that took place in 270 regions across Indonesia on Dec. 9, 2020. (Antara/Budi Candra Setya)
T
he organizing of nationwide regional elections in 2024 has set off a debate in the world’s third-most-populous democracy over how best to fill hundreds of the soon-to-be-vacated seats.
The delay of regional elections – originally scheduled for 2022 and 2023 – to 2024 is the consequence of an agreement by the House of Representatives and the government not to revise a law that stipulates holding simultaneous regional elections in 2024.
As many as seven governors, including popular Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, 76 regents and 18 mayors will end their five-year terms this year. In 2023, 17 governors – including the governors of most populous Java provinces, such as Ganjar Pranowo of Central Java and Ridwan Kamil of West Java – as well as 115 regents and 39 mayors across the country will follow suit. Like Anies, Ganjar and Ridwan are among top presidential hopefuls.
The prevailing 2016 Regional Elections Law allows the government to appoint high-ranking state officials – for example, secretaries-general, directors general and inspectors general – as acting governors until the regions in question elect definitive leaders through the 2024 polls.
Democracy at risk
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University professor Azyumardi Azra said direct appointment of local leaders would be an indication of “the disappearance of democracy at the local level” as the public's right to participate in governance and the right to choose their leaders were taken by the central government.
This, he said, could cause complications and turn local administrations into an ineffective government.
