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Betrayal by the elite
Many would agree that the move to fend off revision of the 2017 Elections Law is motivated by short-term interests as well.
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T
he much-needed legislation to eradicate sexual violence to further protect women and children now remains elusive. So will our hopes for data protection in the face of our dependence on Big Tech and for a level playing field to encourage investment in renewable energy.
The House of Representatives and the government agreed to include 33 priority bills in the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) last month, including the House initiative bills on sexual violence eradication and renewable energy and the government-sponsored data protection bill. But the House plenary on Wednesday failed to endorse the Prolegnas, due to disagreement among factions on whether or not the Elections Law should be revised.
Initiated by the House, the revision of the 2017 law is in the priority list of bills for lawmakers and the government to deliberate this year. Over the past few weeks, the country’s political elites have been at loggerheads over the initiative after the government opposed the plan and one by one members of the ruling coalition jumped on the bandwagon.
Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told the House plenary that House factions would “absorb public aspirations” before they return to the negotiating table in the legislative body to decide whether to go ahead with the Elections Law revision.
In fact, the ruling coalition is now solidly behind the government’s refusal to revise the law after the NasDem Party dropped its support for the revision in an about face last week. Only the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party are adamant in demanding amendments of the law.
A revision of the Elections Law is crucial, hence controversial, as, if endorsed, it would allow simultaneous regional elections in 2022 and 2023 to precede the 2024 legislative and presidential elections. The government and its ruling coalition that controls more than four-fifths of the House seats insist that no regional elections should be held in 2022 and 2023, as the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis may continue to plague the country.
That argument only demonstrates the government’s inconsistency. Despite warnings of a potential surge in COVID-19 transmission, the government declared that the local elections in 270 regions should go ahead as planned on Dec. 9 last year, citing its defense of people’s right to vote.
Past revisions of the Elections Law before the five-yearly rotation of elites came under fire because of the short-term interests power brokers were pursuing. Many would agree that the move to fend off revision of the 2017 Elections Law is motivated by short-term interests as well.
While the real motive remains concealed, at least the government and the ruling coalition have turned a deaf ear to many aspirations to improve the quality of elections as the most democratic mechanism to select leaders. A recent survey by Indikator Politik, for example, shows a majority of respondents want the 2022 and 2023 polls to take place and the legislative and presidential elections in 2024 to be held separately.
The political elites’ bargain for their own interests have held hostage deliberation of legislation the public needs the most, but it’s not the first time they betray people who voted for them, is it?
