Never Mind Principles: I want to be President!

Politics is back. The eye is still on the big prize, but political campaigning of a sort is underway. After the Prosperous Justice Party grabbed some of the limelight with a TV ad portraying ex-president Suharto as a national hero, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle has joined the fray. It has been running ads in the papers promising cheap groceries for those little people it purports to support. The idea is of course to ensure that ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri gets another go at the job. Never mind that in her previous term in office, she conspicuously failed to do anything for the little people (staying silent when Indonesian workers were expelled from Malaysia and only reluctantly visiting Bali after the 2002 bomb killed 38 Indonesians in the province that is home to her most loyal supporters). One of her most shameless acts was to help ensure retired general Sutiyoso won a second term as Jakarta governor despite the fact he was military commander of Jakarta in 1996 when troops stormed the offices of Megawati's breakaway wing of her party, killing many of her devoted followers. Then, according to one story, after her defeat she tried to sabotage the state budget by removing subsidies FOR THE POOR to make things difficult for her successor, but was talked out of it.

And now she may be up to her old opportunist tricks again. Rumors abound that she is considering retired general Subianto Prabowo as her running mate, despite the fact he was commander of the Kopassus "special forces" troops allegedly involved in the disappearances of pro-democracy activists (including her supporters!) in the last days of Suharto's regime. If it's not Prabowo (a really nasty piece of work if there ever was one), could she really be thinking of teaming up with Golkar? It was during Golkar's heyday in power that she was deposed as leader of her party as she was getting too popular.

But forget the little people, forget what her new friends did to those who stood by her in the dark days of the New Order. The important thing is to get to the palace and spend another term cutting ribbons and doing little else.

By the way, if she does win, look out for a constitutional crisis if she wants to stay in office for a second term. Article 7 of the Constitution states, "The President and Vice President hold office for a term of five years and can afterwards be elected to the same office, for one other term only", but she didn't serve a full term first time....

That Other Election

Indonesia has temporarily forgotten all about its own election to focus all its attention on events the other side of the world, presumably to the puzzlement of people who think their own problems are more worthy of attention than those of the USA.

If you thought the global coverage of Obama's victory was hysterical ("On every level America will be changed by this result - its impact will be so profound that the nation will never be the same."said the BBC. Hmm. Including the geology? And of course it won't - nowhere ever is! It's called entropy), come to Indonesia. As the young Obama spent time in Jakarta - his mother remarried an Indonesian and moved here - the Indonesian media rapidly abandoned all pretense of impartiality and devoted pages and pages (and hours and hours) to their adopted son. As a result, the opinion on news portal detik.com (which they shrewdly started charging people to vote on!) saw McCain's rating at around 7% right until polling day. The fact that Obama's father was Muslim sealed it for many.

And this really shows the lack of political maturity among many here. In the same way that Megawati Sukarnoputri is wildly popular because she is the daughter of Indonesia's founding president, Obama is popular because he once lived in Jakarta and had a Muslim father. Never mind the issues.... For example his stance on abortion is at odds with the majority opinion here.

And more to the point, what are the odds that an ethnic Chinese Indonesian, or a non-Muslim Indonesian, will ever become president? And will losing candidates ever learn to accept defeat graciously? Not if the last election is anything to go by. Losing candidate Megawati went into a sulk, and refused to concede defeat, saying that she had not lost, merely experienced a drop in her vote.

Anyway, congratulations to Barack Obama, and commiserations to John McCain. You can both teach Indonesia a lot about winning and losing.

Remember the legislative election anyone?

According to a survey by Kompas newspaper last week, only 20 percent of Indonesian voters know that the legislative elections will be held in April 2009. And it's not surprising. After a flurry of interest (in the form of celebs and flags) politicians and commentators seem to have lost interest in the elections to the House of Representatives and to be focusing all their attention on the real prize: the presidential palace.


On Wednesday 29 October, the House more or less agreed on the formula for the Presidential Election Law. The parties with the largest share of seats in the House agreed that presidential candidates can be nominated by parties or groupings of parties with at last 25 percent of seats in the House or that won at least 20 percent of the vote in the legislative election. This will mean no more than three or four candidate pairings. The National Mandate Party, which doesn't stand a chance of winning this many votes or seats on its own, is still sulking and a judicial review is not out of the question. Meanwhile the United Development Party (currently with 11% of seats) has said that it is "attracted" to incumbent president SBY as a candidate because if his anti-corruption efforts. SBY may need the help of a large party as his Democratic Party vehicle (currently with 10% of seats) is likely to need help to get him reelected. And in other developments (as they say), Golkar (23% of seats) and the other front-runner, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) (20%) seem to be getting closer.

But in the midst of all this bickering and flirting, everybody seems to have forgotten the legislative vote comes first. The date for the presidential poll has not even been set yet...

Problematic Legislative Candidates

The latest pre-election buzzphrase is 'caleg bermasalah' - legislative candidates with problems. These range from using forged documents to bypass the requirements to stand for election to committing crimes.

According to Indonesian TV station SCTV in a report from 15 October, problems include alleged involvement in crimes (including corruption), faking hospital statements of good health and registering more than once. And that's just from Riau province. The next day, Kompas newspaper reported that in Banyumas, Central Java, the local office of the General Election Commission (KPU) received 14 complaints from the public alleging candidates were involved in mischief including corruption and drug abuse.

On 20 October, news portal detik.com reported that the KPU had received 162 reports of problem candidates, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, leading the pack with 26 reports followed by the People's Conscience Party, led by UN-indicted former general Wiranto, with 22. By 21 October this figure had risen to 253, according to a KPU official who went on to say that of these, 13 were involved in legal cases, 13 more faked their academic credentials and a further 43 were suspected of corruption.

However, things do get done. The South Sulawesi KPU has since removed 13 candidates from the list - three were thrown off (one for being nominated by two different parties in two different areas, one for being a civil servant and one for being nominated in two different areas), and 10 resigned. The KPU helpfully explained that being a drinker, stealing electricity or having more than one wife could be used as reasons for throwing people off the list, and that it is investigating cases of apparent fakery of graduation certificates.

STOP PRESS: Detik.com has just reported that Sukmawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Indonesia's founding president, faked her high school graduation certificate to allow her to stand for election. She has since resigned her candidacy to "concentrate on managing her party", meaning the KPU will not go ahead with its plan to report her to the police...

STOP PRESS: The General Elections Commission announced on 28 October that it was removing 72 candidates from the list. 66 of these resigned of their own accord, four were suspected of faking their academic credentials and two turned out be be civil servants. A total of nine candidates have been put forward to replace them.

Youth

The issue of the moment: it's time for a young leader. Most of the candidates for the presidency are no longer in the first flush of youth. The incumbent, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is 59; his vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, is 66; former president Megawati Sukarnoputri is 61, as is UN-indicted former general Wiranto. Older still are the sultan of Yogykarta at 62 and former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso at 64. Disgraced former general Prabowo is bringing up the rear at a mere 58.

So, goes the cry, it's time to give the youth a chance. This may be reinforced by the fact that most of the aforementioned candidates stood in 2004, giving the impression that they are closing the door on the next generation.

Any young candidates? Well, there is Soetrisno Bachir - a mere adolescent of 51 and Hidayat Nur Wahid is 48. And the candidate who is shouting loudest for a chance for the young: Rizal Mallarangeng (44), who was apparently inspired by Barrack Obama's appeal among the younger generation.

So what do the older generation say when this issue is raised. Well, it's all rather awkward. You see they have spent lots of time (and money?) to get where they are, and are not about to give way to a bunch of whippersnappers. They give coy replies about experience (er... Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, was 45 when he came to office and Suharto was 46) and then say they'll wait until after the legislative elections. They may deign to run with a youthful vice-president, but like naughty children, we will have to wait and see.

Numbers...numbers...

It's all about numbers, as the latest bout of fun and games shows.

Firstly, some members of the legislature (DPR) want to revise Law No. 10/2008 on Elections. The problem is that at the moment the order of candidates on the ballot paper will play a major role in determining who is awarded the seats won by the parties. Now some legislators want the seat to go to the candidate with most votes (what an extraordinary idea). This will probably be opposed by those people who have got themselves at the top of the list, by fair means or foul...

And President SBY's Democratic Party seem to be in breach of article 54 of Law No.10/2008, which states that the maximum number of candidates shall be no more than 120% of seats in the legisalture. Kompas newspaper (3/10/08) and General Election Commission (KPU) member Endang Sulastri seem to be a touch confused. According to Kompas, the Democratic Party has 673 candidates, which many people who say that "the maximum number is 120 percent of the totla number of DPR seats (550), namely 672 people."

Step forward Endang, who says "...we have registered and counted 120 percent of the seats in each electoral region [constituency] and the result is 675 candidates, not 120 percent of 550 DPR seats."

A quick check on the calculator shows that 672 is 120 percent of 560, not 550. Why? Because article 21 of Law No. 20/2008 fixes the number of DPR seats at "560 (five hundred and sixty)".

So can "Kompas" and the KPU a) not count or b) not read?

Learning from the mistakes of others

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has said today, 29 September, that he is "God willing" to stand for re-election next year "probably" with Vice-president Jusuf Kalla as his running mate.

In the 2004 presidential election, Vice-president Hamzah Haz got a bit carried away (or perhaps just plain greedy) and decided to stand against the encumbent president Megawati Sukarnoputri, leaving Mega to scramble around for a suitable Islamic runing mate to complement her nationalist credientials. Predictably he obtained a pitiful 3% of the vote - amd Mega lost too. Had Hamzah Haz shown a little more patience and struck a deal with Mega, they might have been re-elected, then he could have had her blessing for the top job next time.

Jusuf Kalla seems to have learned this lesson. Could it be that he has agreed to put his Golkar Party behind SBY in return for an endorsement for the presidency in 2014?

Sorry ladies?

Article 53 of Law No. 10/2008 on General Elections stipulates that the lists of prospective candidates submitted by parties to the General Elections Commission (KPU) should contain at least 30% women. However, according to Kompas newspaper on September 18, this quota only applies to the provisional list, and in no way means that 30% of the seats in the legislature will be occupied by women.

The Kompas article points out that in Rwandi, the quota for women in the legislature is 24%, and that if there are not enough women, the seats are left empty. Thanks for that.

Watch this space for more on this once somebody else has done the maths on the list of prosepctive candidates...

Keeping it up

Still a long way to go until the election, and some of the parties are taking advantage of the holiday season to wish potential voters a Happy Idul Fitri while trying to keep their parties in the public eye.

Gerindra, the vehicle of disgraced former commander of Indonesia's special forces Prabowo, has recruited the "Three Divas", a sort of Indonesia megagroup including top singer Kris Dayanti, to pass on the holiday wishes. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took out an ad in the best-selling daily paper Kompas the other week for his Democratic Party vehicle. However this was more annoying than anything else as it was in the form of a flap on the front page, obscuring the weather report and making it impossible to hold the paper with only two hands...

Then a blast from the past. Akbar Tandjung (who is of course entirely innocent of the embezzlement he was once charged with as Indonesia's famously independent Supreme Court granted the appeal of this former head of the former ruling party) can now been seen standing stiffly in front of his family squeezing greetings out of a wooden smile. So presumably he wants the presidency as well...

Meanwhile, after the flurry of flags a few weeks ago, some of the banners are looking decidedly tattered. There have been a few token holiday banners, but most parties don't seem to have thought how they are going to keep up public interest until April and beyond, and seem to have given up for the time being.

Artists

The election campaign has gone a bit quiet as it has been overtaken by other more juicy news.

The one election issue in the news at the moment is the trend for celebrities to stand for election. The idea is that soap opera stars will bring voters flocking to parties because of name recognition and their "attractive appearance" as one TV station put it.

Not everybody is happy about this. A candidate for the National Mandate Party (PAN) was complaining bitterly that artists on the list mean that other candidates get pushed further down the list, thus reducing their chances of winning a seat in the legislature. Presumably the celebs see a seat as a fixed and definite source of income, given the fickle tastes of the TV-viewing public. Presumably also, they don't have to pay the parties for the privilege of being an official candidate - one party demands Rp50 million (about US$5,300 ) from each prospective candidate.

The problem is that once elected, they need to get the money back. Any guesses how they do that?

Answers coming soon...

STOP PRESS: "Kompas" newpaper published some figures on 18/1/09. It seems that PAN has a total of 25 celebs standing for the party, or nearly half the total of 59. Some way behind at number two is Hanura with 9. The PPP and the Democrat Party have 4 each.

The "My Republi Party" [sic]

The "Partai Republiku" successfully took the General Election Commission (KPU) to court as they wanted to participate in the election. In a rather confusingly worded ruling (and appeal), the judge did not actually make it clear why it should be allowed to. After all, the party failed the verification process by the KPU as it does not have representative offices in enough provinces. More than 66 parties wanted to take part, but in the end, only 38 will do so nationally.

So why so desperate. After all, the "Partai Republiku" doesn't have a hope of winning a significant number of seats, yet alone a majority. Could it have anything to do with the fact that parties will receive state funding? It could indeed!

And in their haste to set up a party, the people behind it couldn't even be bothered to come up with a proper name. In Indonesian, 'republik' means, unsurprisingly, 'republic'. The suffix 'ku' means 'my'. So 'My Republic Party' is 'Partai Republikku', with double k. But 'Partai Republiku' means 'My Republi Party'.

Now what's the indonesian for 'plonker'?

Saving face, saying little

The General Election Commission (KPU) has called off its round-the-world jaunt in the face of a public outcry. Officially it's just been delayed - this is known in these parts as "saving face".

Meanwhile, the official KPU website (www.kpu.or.id) is now rather thin on information. It used to have an English language section, but that has vanished. Also gone, rather mysteriously, are the 2004 election results. The link to map of electoral districts goes to a blank page, and the local Aceh parties don't even get a mention. Anybody wanting information abut the election is advised to stick to this blog :-) or make use of Google. Or if all ease fails, read the Jakarta Post (online at www.thejakartapost.com), although bear in mind that on 11 September this year, it ran an article with the headline "Eight years after 9/11".

Presidential hopefuls

Once the legislative (DPR) elections are out of the way the real fun begins. Indonesia's second presidential elections will be held around July 5, 2009. The presidential election law is not ready yet, but it looks like parties or groups of parties who get 20-30% of the vote in the DPR election will be allowed to nominate candidates.

The likely candidates:
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) - incumbent. Nominated by his Democrat Party vehicle. Will probably need support from other parties. His party will be lucky to win 20% of the vote in the legisaltive election.
Megawati Sukarnoputri - former president, defeated because she did bog all while in office. Her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle should pick up 20-30% of the vote
Jusuf Kalla - current vice-president. Likely to be too greedy and impatient to accept the VP job again in return for supporting SBY and in turn get SBY's support for the presidency in 2014. His Holkar Party should get 20-30% of votes in the DPR election.
Wiranto - indicted war criminal (for crimes in East Timor) - nominated by his Hanura Party vehicle, which may attract 15-20% of the vote campaigning on an anti-foreigner ticket
Soetrisno Bachir - businessman and chairman of the National mandate Party (PAN) - may pick up the Islamist nomination

Also rans:
Prabowo Soebianto - disgraced former general. Has been advertising a lot on TV, but his party vehicle (Gerindra) is too small. Possible VP candidate
Sutiyoso - disgraced former governor of Jakarta. Doesn't have a party vehicle and may have left it too late
Yusril Ihza Mahendra - disgraced former minister. Possible token Muslim VP for a nationalist candidate
Akbar Tandjung - oh dear me. Just Google the guy!

Oddities

The fun has started. Party flags are everywhere. Oddities so far:

• The General Elections Commission (KPU) has decided some of its members need to go overseas to tell expat Indonesians (all 1.6 million of them) about the elections. The fact that nobody in Indonesia seems to know much about them is due to the fact that the funds for the overseas jaunt were released first, before the domestic campaign funds...

• After having to let four small (ie insignificant) parties participate in the election, thanks to a lawsuit, the KPU has been ordered by another court to let yet another join in the fun. However, according to the rules, the party in question doesn't actually meet the conditions for qualification. Hmmm. Parties contesting the election get state funding and judges are corrupt. Any connection..?

What it's all about

On Thursday April 9 2009 Indonesians will go to the polls to elect the 550 members of the House of Representatives (DPR), the legislature, and four members for each province for the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

A total of 38 parties are contesting the DPR elections, with another six regional parties in the province of Aceh only. Members of the DPD are elected as individuals, not by party.

The 38 national parties, and their official ballot paper numbers, are:

1. People's Conscience Party (Partai Hati Nurani Rakyat, Partai Hanura)
2. Concern for the Nation Functional Party (Partai Karya Peduli Bangsa)
3. Indonesian Workers and Employers Party (Partai Pengusaha dan Pekerja Indonesia)
4. National People's Concern Party (Partai Peduli Rakyat Nasional)
5. Great Indonesia Movement Party (Partai Gerakan Indonesia Raya, Gerindra)
6. National Front Party (Partai Barisan Nasional, Barnas)
7. Justice and Unity Party (Partai Keadilan dan Persatuan Indonesia)
8. Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera)
9. National Mandate Party (Partai Amanat Nasional)
10. New Indonesia Party of Struggle (Partai Perjuangan Indonesia Baru)
11. Sovereignty Party (Partai Kedaulatan)
12 .Regional Unity Party (Partai Persatuan Daerah)
13. National Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa)
14. Indonesian Youth Party (Partai Pemuda Indonesia)
15. Indonesian National Party Marhaenism (Partai Nasional Indonesia Marhaenisme)
16. Democratic Renewal Party (Partai Demokrasi Pembaruan, PDP)
17. Functional Party of Struggle (Partai Karya Perjuangan)
18. National Sun Party(Partai Matahari Bangsa)
19. Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party (Partai Penegak Demokrasi Indonesia)
20. Democratic Nationhood Party (Partai Demokrasi Kebangsaan)
21. Archipelago Republic Party (Partai Republik Nusantara)
22. Vanguard Party (Partai Pelopor)
23. Party of Functional Groups(Golkar/Partai Golongan Karya )
24. United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan)
25. Prosperous Peace Party (Partai Damai Sejahtera)
26. Indonesian National Populist Fortress Party (Partai Nasional Benteng Kerakyatan Indonesia)
27. Crescent Star Party (Partai Bulan Bintang)
28. Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan)
29. Reform Star Party (Partai Bintang Reformasi)
30. Patriot Party (Partai Patriot)
31. Democratic Party (Partai Demokrat)
32. Indonesian Democratic Party of Devotion (Partai Kasih Demokrasi Indonesia)
33. Prosperous Indonesia Party (Partai Indonesia Sejahtera)
34. Ulema National Awakening Party (Partai Kebangkitan Nasional Ulama)
41. Freedom Party (Partai Merdeka)
42. Indonesian Nahdlatul Community Party (Partai Persatuan Nahdlatul Ummah Indonesia)
43. Indonesian Unity Party (Partai Sarikat Indonesia)
44. Labor Party (Partai Buruh)