TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsProposal to drop deputy regional heads from local elections gains traction
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
Elected regional heads attend the inauguration ceremony at the Presidential Palace complex in Central Jakarta on Feb. 20, 2025. President Prabowo Subianto inaugurated 961 regional heads consisting of 33 governors and 33 deputy governors, 363 regents, 362 deputy regents, 85 mayors and 85 deputy mayors in the ceremony. (Antara Foto/Aditya Pradana Putra)
A
proposal to stop directly electing deputy regional heads has gained traction in the House of Representatives, with lawmakers arguing that the current system often produces dysfunctional partnerships and unnecessary political and administrative costs.
The proposal came up during a meeting between the House Commission II overseeing home affairs and the Home Ministry on July 30, when lawmakers broadly discussed regional governance and the remuneration of regional leadership.
Commission II member Muhammad Khozin of the National Awakening Party (PKB) brought up the recurring “disharmony between elected regional heads and their deputies” as an issue needed solving. He suggested that the two positions no longer be elected as a pair. Instead, voters would elect only governors, mayors and regents, who would subsequently appoint a deputy.
“We should just revise the Regional Elections Law to [make this change] so that deputy heads are no longer treated as mere vote getters during the elections,” he said.
Under the election system, regional heads and their deputies are elected by voters as a pair after their nomination by political parties or coalitions of parties.
The proposal has now received support from several other lawmakers from pro-government parties, including fellow Commission II member Ahmad Doli Kurnia of Golkar Party who said it could reduce the conflicts that are commonplace between regional heads and their deputies and make them operate more effectively.
“The conflicts [between the head and deputy] drained the energy that should have been focused on improving the effectiveness of local government and the quality of each region’s public services,” Doli told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
