A coalition without any underlying concepts is beginning to show its identity as a political elite alliance aiming merely to gain power.
By
J. KRISTIADI
·5 minutes read
The Indonesia Onward Cabinet is not yet one month old and the phenomenon of political pragmatism is getting increasingly evident. A coalition without any underlying concepts is beginning to show its identity as a political elite alliance aiming merely to gain power. The quick move by the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) to “embrace” political parties outside the coalition, although for the reason of maintaining checks and balances to ensure a healthier Indonesian democracy, is almost definitely related to the anticipation, strategy and tactics for facing the regional-head elections of 2020 and general elections of 2024.
A shift in the political chart becomes even more obvious after Nasdem’s political safari to meet non-coalition political parties, such as the Prosperous Justice Party, and its plan to see the leaders of the National Mandate Party and the Democratic Party. A maneuver may also come from coalition political parties supporting President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Vice President Ma’ruf Amin that earned no Cabinet positions: the Crescent Moon Party, the People’s Conscience Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party.
Pragmatism is eroding the political elite’s values of statesmanship.
The Jokowi-Amin government has invited Prabowo Subianto, their political rival in the presidential elections of 2019. Pragmatism is eroding the political elite’s values of statesmanship. They only think of the strategy and tactics needed to secure victory from election to election. As a result, the essence of general elections as a means of selecting public officials who devote themselves to the people becomes a mere instrument to channel the desire for power. The political elite can be likened to be suffering from collective presbyopia, age-related farsightedness, so that their horizons are too close to their noses.
The political elite’s behavior that further bows to the sole interest of power politics doesn’t dampen public hopes for the Jokowi-Amin administration. The expectations are reflected in a Kompas opinion poll results. More than 70 percent of respondents were convinced that President Jokowi is capable of creating an effective bureaucracy, as well as realizing his vision and mission and 60 percent of them are sure that President Jokowi can resolve various other issues.
The other figures show that more than 60 percent of respondents feel certain that the religious affairs minister, despite his military background, is able to handle radicalism and intolerance and improve the haj service (Kompas, 4 November 2019). The level of public satisfaction with President Jokowi’s performance is also quite high, reaching 71.8 percent according to the Indonesian Survey Institute (kompas.com, 4 November 2019).
It should be admitted that the challenge faced by the Jokowi-Amin government is tough. At the global level, the wave of populism, the death of truth (Michiko Kakutani, 2018), the trade war between the United States and China and the increasingly protectionist world economy considerably affect the Jokowi-Amin government’s five-year agenda.
The domestic political challenge is also complex because of the muddled basis of state power management, notably the practice of democracy without proper norms that results in the political elite struggling wildly for power. Besides, money politics is getting widespread, bureaucratic politicization is becoming more acute and the credibility of political and public institutions is declining, along with other problems that are a consequence of political reform without any clear paradigm.
He proved himself to be almost free from issues of collusion, corruption and nepotism.
The challenges are growing bigger as the damage to the state is enjoyed by various circles. Tragically, some of them should constitutionally be duty-bound to reorder and improve the system of state management. They understand their tasks and duties, but are unwilling to make improvements.
In the face of the different hard challenges, President Jokowi possesses major capital that is effective: good intentions and serious determination, with all his limitations, to realize public welfare with justice. During his first five years in office, he proved himself to be almost free from issues of collusion, corruption and nepotism.
The intention and determination of President Jokowi to oppose the destructive forces of the state in the wayang (shadow puppet play) cosmology is known as tiwikrama. It means that he musters his entire strength, will, force and thought to uphold justice and realize welfare. In the world of theater, the character considered sacred transforms into a giant figure symbolizing utmost wrath and a tremendous power to crush evil.
Several manifestations of his determination are among the following. First, he selected Cabinet members without submitting absolutely to the oligarchic wishes of supporting political parties. Second, he stressed that one of the focal points of the government’s agenda was to deal with groups of religious manipulators, such as by appointing a religious affairs minister “in deviation of” the norms so far seen as a tradition. Third, he allowed a “veto” to coordinating ministers if in their scopes of authority there are conflicting and overlapping ministerial regulations.
Fourth, he plans to issue a sapu jagat (omnibus) law. It would be a regulation serving as an umbrella for a number of rules different in substance and eliminating rules that are overlapping or conflicting in order to ensure smooth investments.
Finally, in simple language, President Jokowi is prohibiting his ministers from committing corruption and is going to dismiss them if they fail to make achievements – also if there is no ministerial vision. Moreover, they should work fast, hard, be creatively productive, always check problems on the spot and find their solutions.
The challenges to be encountered in the next five years are quite severe. With national leadership that consistently pursues noble goals, the political reality produced by the 2019 general elections is expected to be able to lay down the basis for the future life of the nation and state that is of higher quality.
J. Kristiadi, Senior Researcher, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)