Without Opposition, Prabowo Government Executive-Legislative Relations Can Run Smoothly

Prabowo should allow political parties to remain outside the government so that a "checks and balances" mechanism is established.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The elected president and vice-presidents, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, briefly answered journalists' questions after receiving their appointment letter as president and vice-president from the General Election Commission at the Open Plenary Meeting for the Designation of the Elected Presidential and Vice-Presidential Candidates for the 2024 Elections at the KPU RI Building in Jakarta on Wednesday (24/4/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Prabowo Subianto's desire to embrace all political rivals in the 2024 Presidential Election is considered to be a sign of the dangers of democracy in the future. The next Prabowo-Gibran government will be supported by a majority of DPR members who can make all the government's policy plans run smoothly. Supposedly, political parties that are opponents of the Prabowo-Gibran camp should remain outside the government and be parties that can carry out legislative functions in the DPR.

Previously, the Nasdem Party stated that it was joining the Prabowo-Gibran coalition, which was directly conveyed by Nasdem General Chair Surya Paloh after meeting Prabowo at his residence in Jakarta, Thursday (25/4/2024). In the 2024 presidential election, Nasdem together with the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) are running for presidential and vice presidential candidates Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar.

Based on the vote count for Nasdem in the 2024 Election, the party has the potential to control 69 seats in the period of 2024-2029. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Moving Coalition (KIM), which supports Prabowo-Gibran in the 2024 Presidential Election, consisting of the Golkar Party, Gerindra Party, Democrat Party, and Amanat Nasional Party (PAN), has the potential to control 280 DPR seats. Thus, if the total is accumulated, it amounts to 349 DPR seats or 60.17 percent of all 580 DPR seats.

In the same way, the National Awakening Party openly declared their support for the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka government by entrusting eight programs for change. Nevertheless, discussions regarding ministerial seats that the National Awakening Party will obtain from the support are not yet decided. This is because Prabowo-Gibran still have six months to form the future government cabinet.

Also read: Prabowo-Gibran Coalition Takes Control of Parliament

The domination of seats in the DPR can be more significant if the form of support from PKB also means the party joining the ranks of supporters of the Prabowo-Gibran government. PKB has the potential to control 68 seats in the DPR. The form of support from the party has been conveyed by the General Chairman of PKB, Muhaimin Iskandar, during his meeting with Prabowo on Wednesday (24/42024). Original Article: PPP menegaskan tak akan berkoalisi dengan partai manapun dalam Pilkada Bali 2024. Alasannya yakni lebih fokus membangun partai di Bali. Ketua DPW PPP Bali, Ketut Rudi Asmara mengatakan, saat ini PPP memang memperkuat struktur di Bali dan membangun partai. English Translation: PPP asserts that it will not form a coalition with any party in the Bali 2024 regional elections. The reason is that the party is more focused on building itself in Bali. The Chairman of PPP Bali DPW, Ketut Rudi Asmara, said that the party is currently strengthening its structure in Bali and building itself up.

Head of the Political Research Center of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Firman Noor,

Leave the party out of government

Researcher from the Politics Research Center of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Firman Noor, said on Friday (26/4/2024) that Prabowo's desire to embrace all his political rivals is to make political power in parliament the majority in supporting the government. However, it would be better if Prabowo allowed political parties supporting Anies-Muhaimin and Ganjar-Mahfud to remain outside the government.

In this way, the checks and balances mechanism for the Prabowo-Gibran government can be developed and the government will run effectively. Because, previously the control mechanism was not visible during the two terms of President Joko Widodo's leadership. Almost all political parties in parliament are part of the government.

"The strength of democracy will work well if there is oversight outside of the government and monitoring of the president. So, it is not the opposition that needs to win. At least, every policy or desire of the president is not easily realized."

"The strength of democracy will work well if there is external control and supervision of the president's actions. So, it is not necessary for the opposition to win. At least, every policy or desire of the president will not be easily realized," said Firman.

Firman predicts that it is likely only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and PPP who will be outside of the government. This is because both parties have not been visited by Prabowo after being officially declared as the elected presidential candidate. PDI-P and PPP are not easy to invite to support the next government coalition.

"These two parties also have experience in being opposition or outside of the government. Both tend to have strength in ideological basis and consistency. In addition, PDI-P has a black mark with the Jokowi family legacy in the Prabowo camp," added Firman.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The elected President of the 2024 Presidential Election, Prabowo Subianto, embraced the Chairman of the National Democratic Party, Surya Paloh, after holding a press conference following their meeting at Prabowo's house on Kertanegara Street, Jakarta, on Thursday (25/4/2024).

Has no opposition experience

As for Nasdem and PKB, continued Firman, it has been suspected from the beginning that they would lean towards the Prabowo-Gibran camp. Nasdem and PKB also do not have experience being in the opposition. In fact, Firman suspects that the parties joined the Prabowo-Gibran camp to secure their positions or avoid legal cases.

"However, empirically speaking, prosperous, solid, and prosperous nations are those that are well-functioning democracies. This means that the opposition there is respected," said Firman.

"The Indonesia Maju coalition, as the supporter of Prabowo-Gibran, certainly needs other political parties to strengthen their support in parliament. The joining of one or two parties will surely increase the power of the Prabowo-Gibran government in parliament.

Political Science lecturer from the University of Indonesia Aditya Perdana said that the Indonesia Maju coalition, as the supporter of Prabowo-Gibran, definitely needs other political parties to strengthen their support in parliament. The inclusion of one or two parties will certainly increase the power of the Prabowo-Gibran government in parliament.

KOMPAS/WILLY MEDI CHRISTIAN NABABAN

The atmosphere of the plenary session opening the fourth session of the 2023-2024 session at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Tuesday (5/3/2024).

Also read: Affirming support for Prabowo-Gibran, PKB submits eight change programs

Now only PDI-P and PKS have experience as parties outside of the government. These two parties do not have a problem with choosing to remain outside of the government. However, the steps taken by these two parties should also be awaited in the future. This is because the public does not yet know whether these two parties will consider entering the government or not.

"What also needs to be looked at is how we continue to strengthen public criticality as represented by the strength of political parties in parliament. Don't ignore the checks and balances of power in a democratic country. "This is something that needs to be discussed seriously by the public," he said.