270 regions, will be led by acting regional heads in 2022 and 2023.
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RINI KUSTIASIH/NIKOLAUS HARBOWO
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SEKRETARIAT PRESIDEN
President Joko Widodo accompanied by Vice President Maruf Amin and Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian walked with the Governor of Riau Islands Isdianto in a procession before the inauguration at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Monday (27/7/2020).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — With a proposed revision of the Election Law now off the table, it has been confirmed that all regional elections will be held simultaneously with presidential elections in 2024. One of the implications is that around half of the regions in Indonesia, 270 regions, will be led by acting regional heads in 2022 and 2023. This is because the regional heads and their deputies in these hundreds of regions will end their tenure in those two years.
The government needs to think in advance about the mechanism for filling those positions, so that the running of the government and public services is not disrupted. The officials must also be neutral, so as not to cause legitimacy problems in the 2024 elections.
Professor of Government Science from the Institute of Public Administration (IPDN) Djohermansyah Djohan predicted on Sunday (14/3/2021) that it would not be easy for the government to prepare middle high-ranking officials in the government to fill the position of acting governors. The same applies to pratama (first-year) high-ranking officials to fill the positions of acting mayors/regents.
With regard to the acting governors, the former director general of regional autonomy of the Home Ministry noted that as many as 16 mid-to-high-ranking officials at the Home Affairs Ministry would not be enough to fill the positions of acting governors in the 24 provinces where the terms of office of the governors and deputy governors will expire in 2022 and 2023. Therefore, the government must prepare officials from other ministries.
The problem does not stop there. Those who are elected will have concurrent positions, which could disrupt the running of the government. "In fact, 2022 to 2024 is the last years of President Joko Widodo\'s administration, which should have improved its performance," he said.
The appointment of acting officials by the government could also trigger problems of neutrality in general elections or regional elections in 2024, because it is not impossible for the appointed officials to show political loyalty to those who appointed them. The acting governors will be appointed by the President and the Home Affairs Minister. The governors will determine the acting mayors/regents.
ISTIMEWA/HUMAS PEMPROV BALI
Screenshot of live broadcast of the inauguration of regional heads of the results of the 2020 Regional Election in Bali Province which was held at the Wiswa Sabha Building, Bali Governor\'s Office, Denpasar, Friday (26/2/2021).
Extension of position
With regard to this, Djohermansyah suggested that the term of office of regional heads/deputy heads ending in 2022 and 2023 be extended until the regional elections are completed in 2024. For this, the Regional Elections (Pilkada) Law would need to be revised. "Only three paragraphs in Article 201 of the Pilkada Law, namely paragraphs 9, 10 and 11, need to be revised," he said.
Indikator Politik Indonesia executive director Burhanuddin Muhtadi also noted that neutrality issues would arise from the appointment of around 270 regional heads by the government. "They are not acting officials by election, but by selection. That\'s a problem of democracy,” he said.
The presence of these officials, Burhanuddin further said, risked triggering problems of legitimacy in the general election. "If there is a perception that the officials are benefiting certain parties, that perception alone will be detrimental to the legitimacy of the general election," he said.
They are not acting officials by election, but by selection. That\'s a problem of democracy.
Therefore, it is important for the government to mitigate it from an early stage. One aspect of this is that the process of selecting the officials must be impartial, neutral, transparent and in accordance with public expectations.
The director general of Politics and General Public Administration of the Home Ministry, Bahtiar, guaranteed that the acting regional heads would have the same authority as the definitive regional heads. Therefore, there was no need to worry that the running of the government and public services would be disrupted.
He also vowed that the appointed officials would be neutral. He claimed that this was evident in officials appointed as acting regional heads so far. According to him, violations of neutrality are even more prone to be committed by definitive regional heads, because they are from political parties.
