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Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies
ISSN: 0007-4918 (Print) 1472-7234 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cbie20
Indonesia Update 2009 Democracy in practice:
campaigns, parties and parliaments
Karina Bontes Forward
To cite this article: Karina Bontes Forward (2009) Indonesia Update 2009 Democracy in practice: campaigns, parties and parliaments, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 45:3, 391-392, DOI: 10.1080/00074910903424050
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00074910903424050
Published online: 16 Nov 2009.
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Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 45, No. 3, 2009: 391–2
ISSN 0007-4918 print/ISSN 1472-7234 online/09/030391-2 © 2009 Indonesia Project ANU DOI: 10.1080/00074910903424050
Conference Report INDONESIA UPDATE 2009
DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE: CAMPAIGNS, PARTIES AND PARLIAMENTS
Karina Bontes Forward Australian National University
The annual Indonesia Update Conference, now in its 27th year, was held at the Aus-tralian National University on 9–10 October 2009. It attracted an audience of well over 300 people from academia, government, non-government organisations and business. The conference was convened by Edward Aspinall and Marcus Mietzner of the ANU and featured speakers and discussants from Australia, Indonesia and the US. As the conference theme suggests, 2009 was ‘the year of voting frequently’ for Indonesia, with elections for parliaments and heads of government at all levels, culminating in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s re-election in July.
The Indonesia Update conference began with the customary politics and econom-ics updates, the full versions of which are reproduced elsewhere in this issue.1
In his keynote address, Larry Diamond argued that Indonesia’s successful democ-ratisation process has bucked the international trend, which saw many previously democratic states regress to authoritarian rule in the last decade. Nevertheless, the sustainability of democracy cannot be taken for granted. Whereas public support for democratic values is strong in Indonesia, the primary focus of policy makers must be on improving the quality of governance if democracy is to survive.
The remainder of the conference addressed six topics: ‘Voters and the new Indo-nesian democracy’; ‘Organising democracy’; ‘Society and the electoral process’; ‘Parties and parliament’; ‘Women in politics’; and ‘Local election case studies’.
William Liddle presented an analysis of voter attitudes, based on six surveys conducted since the 1999 elections. While voters in 1999 and 2004 based their elec-toral choices primarily on considerations of personal leadership and charisma, voting behaviour in 2009 was infl uenced more by television advertisements, the
state of the economy and the performance of the incumbent government. Although this pattern provides evidence of rising levels of rationality in the electorate, vot-ers’ affi liation with and support for political parties remains weak.
Adam Schmidt noted that the rapid progress achieved in the conduct of the highly successful 2004 elections was not replicated in 2009. The 2009 elections have been described as ‘the worst in the reformasi period’. Voter turnout was strong, but the proportion of invalid votes was unacceptably high. Voter registration was poorly managed, not least because a new law mandated reliance on population data from the home affairs ministry rather than the central statistics agency. Staff capacity in the General Elections Commission was limited, and new commission-ers were uncertain of their mandate.
1 Other conference papers will be published in 2010 by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in the Indonesia Update series.
392 Karina Bontes Forward
Muhammad Qodari discussed the role of survey organisations and campaign consultants in Indonesian elections in the post-Soeharto era. He argued that political parties and candidates are increasingly aware that they lack the knowledge and skills necessary to win free elections. In response, they are turning to polling organisations to conduct election-oriented research, and to consultants to help package and communicate what they hope to offer voters.
Ian Wilson highlighted the declining importance of preman (organised thugs) in the democratic process. Political thuggery is increasingly regarded as an inef-fective strategy for winning elections, with the emphasis shifting to selection of popular, charismatic individuals as the best avenue to victory. Ariel Heryanto noted the parties’ tendency to support ‘celebrity’ candidates, drawing a parallel between voting in elections and in television shows such as ‘Indonesian Idol’.
Bima Arya Sugiarto dealt with the importance of political parties to Indonesia’s democracy. Although the parties now use more advanced political strategies and communication techniques, they have made little progress in transforming them-selves into modern, professional organisations. The high level of party factional-ism and the prevalence of money politics or vote buying remain major concerns.
The mechanics of the parliamentary system were discussed by Stephen Sher-lock, who emphasised the key role of a number of parliamentary committees (komisi) in the enactment of new legislation and other matters. He noted that cross-committee cooperation is weak, and that members tend to identify with ‘their’ komisi instead of with their parties. While the national parliament can still be seen as a chamber of cronies who divide state resources among themselves, legislators and their parties are beginning to respond to increasing pressure to be more effective as the representatives of the people.
Sharon Bessell’s presentation focused on the dearth of women in the national parliament. The target of 30% women candidates for each party has largely been ignored. Although the proportion of female members has doubled since 1999 – rising to about the international average of 18% – Bessell argued that it remains too low and that a more effective quota arrangement is needed. Hana Satriyo complemented these observations with evidence of the lack of female presence at the sub-national level. To overcome this problem, more conducive conditions and more positive attitudes towards women in politics are needed.
In the fi rst of two regional case studies of electoral politics, Blair Palmer
described how the Aceh Party, one of six local parties formed in accordance with the special political autonomy arrangements for Aceh, had enjoyed outstanding success in the 2009 legislative elections, out-polling all of the national parties in the province. Promoting itself as the sole descendant of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the party relied on a simple platform, emphasising GAM’s role in nego-tiating the 2005 Memorandum of Understanding that brought peace to the prov-ince. It also benefi ted from a strong organisational structure.
The conference ended with Sidney Jones’s case study of the presidential elec-tion on the small, isolated island of Morotai in North Maluku province. Of par-ticular interest was the way higher offi cials used village chiefs to try to ensure
that the local people voted ‘correctly’. Despite this, the voters often had their own ideas, such that there was great surprise at the actual outcome. The study also observed a high degree of scepticism on the part of ordinary people that the elec-tions would have any signifi cant impact on their well-being.
