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A year of living dangerously for Indonesian democracy
Elections postponement would be an ominous rejection of the institutions of democracy and would dramatically further a worrying trend of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) seizure of power.
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Workers from the Depok General Elections Commission (KPU) stack ballot boxes on November 25, 2020 at a warehouse in Cimanggis district, Depok, West Java. (JP/P.J.Leo)
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s a young and rapidly developing nation, Indonesia naturally faces numerous challenges. Among the greatest of these is the preservation of democracy. The Constitution lays a powerful foundation that allows Indonesia to develop its governance while maintaining the essential rights and freedoms that define a just and fair civic society. Yet this year has seen powerful efforts to undermine and degrade democracy, including moves to weaken the independence of the Constitutional Court and impose restrictions on the freedom of the press.
These have culminated in a dangerous attempt to postpone the 2024 elections in defiance of the Constitution, as People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Bambang Soesatyo recently suggested.
Elections are the lifeblood of democracy, determining the allocation of power and allowing the people to directly influence the running of the government. The magnitude of their impact is illustrated by the enormity of consequences attendant on their absence.
Those seeking postponement claim that holding elections on schedule in 2024 risks political instability and extreme polarization, yet these are far more likely hazards of deferring the elections, spurning the Constitution and the electorate. Public relief greeted President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s prior statement that elections would be held on schedule and worries were further abated when the General Elections Commission (KPU) set the voting date and began preparations for the 2024 simultaneous elections.
These preparations began in June 2022 and have progressed on schedule. The KPU has registered the participating political parties and has allocated electoral serial numbers. Yet even as the nation begins its long march to the polls, rumblings from Bambang show that widely condemned efforts to postpone these elections remain in play.
Bambang has again suggested that the simultaneous elections should be postponed from 2024, leaving in place the current government. Such postponement would be an ominous rejection of the institutions of democracy and would dramatically further a worrying trend of the Assembly’s seizure of power.
Bambang’s suggestion rests upon the familiar rationale mooted when this plan appeared earlier this year: Indonesia faces a number of challenges, chief among them economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This seems flimsy. Challenges are always present and elections allow voters to determine the best way to confront them. Bambang’s claims are also suspicious given that the effect of a delay would be to allow the current Assembly to retain power without facing the electorate.
