Indonesia is bracing for
simultaneous regional elections in February 2017. Several pairs of candidates
have emerged, including those eyeing the coveted governor and vice governor
thrones in Jakarta. These include Agus Harimurti and Sylviana Murni, Anies
Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, as well as the current governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahja
Purnama with Djarot Saiful Hidayat as his deputy.
Meanwhile, over a thousand
kilometres from Jakarta, an unemployed young man named Andra bikes towards
Tebo, where candidate registrations are being held. He is joined by friends
battling similar financial challenges who are hoping to receive a splash of
money from candidates. They leave with a pack of cigarettes and a few litres of
petrol.
This story is a portrait of
the dysfunctional state of democracy in Indonesia’s remote areas. In various
regions, the period ahead of the local election is widely seen as a golden
opportunity to reap profits from candidates.
Citizens
are flocking to prospective local authorities with different intrigues and
motives. While some only expect a pack of cigarettes and a little gasoline,
others seek to develop connections for future employment prospects. They hope
that if the candidates they support win, they could be positioned in different
governmental agencies under the auspices of the local government.
The
driving force behind this phenomenon is the lack of employment opportunities in
these remote regions, which are not able to accommodate the explosion of
graduates who return home after completing their studies in the city.
Consequently, each year the number of unemployed educated in Indonesia
continues to climb.
The
explosion of the unemployed educated is also caused by the inequality of the
employment distribution in the country that is still mainly concentrated in
Java and Bali. Jobs available in other regions are still limited to the
informal sectors such as agriculture, plantations, as well as government
institutions such as schools, hospitals, and government offices. Other sectors
that are driven by the private sector as major companies are still limited to
major cities such as Jakarta or Medan.
Getting
closer to those in power is a logical choice for many unemployed educated
hoping to secure their future. Unfortunately, this practice not only reduces
the quality of the workforce because recruitment is not based on meritocracy,
but, more importantly, it hurts democratic principles. Democracy itself becomes
a victim to Indonesia’s unequal employment distribution problem.
The
simultaneous regional elections provide many unemployed educated in the distant
regions some relief. They have a chance to be employed for several months by
the government to serve in the field supervisory committee (PPL), the district
supervisory committee (Panwawscam), and the election supervisory
committee (Panwaslu). Nonetheless, the range of salaries they earn is
low, at between 600,000 rupiah to 1.5 million rupiah per month.
Furthermore,
Indonesia is still burdened by the high expense of local elections. The General
Elections Commission reported that between 2010 and 2014, the costs incurred to
finance state elections reached 15 trillion rupiah.
The high
cost of the local elections with a separate system was the main reason behind
having simultaneous regional elections instead, in hopes of reducing
implementation costs. Yet ironically, the simultaneous election system is
costing far more than the previous election system.
It is not
surprising if the urge to restore the local elections into the hands of the
People’s Representative Council (DPR) continues to swell. It is important to
note, given the massive practice of transactional politics between prospective
regional heads and the constituents, that the solution to restore the local
election back to the hands of DPR is possible.
If so,
budgets for the direct election can be allocated to the creation of jobs for
the unemployed educated scattered around the country. In addition, resources
can also be used to help these unemployed individuals to open businesses and
provide job opportunities for others — unemployed educated in Indonesia are
still unable to open up businesses due to constraints in initial capital. It
would be a breath of fresh air if the government is willing to lend a
hand to help them.
The
elections in Jakarta will remain highly scrutinised given Jakarta’s status as a
political centre, and will no doubt dominate the conversation in Indonesia and
further afield. At the same time, people like Andra will continue to push their
motivations in remote regional elections. Their situations are drowned out by
the bustle of politics in the capital.
Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is a PhD scholar at
the University of Manchester.
Muhammad
Beni Saputra is a recent graduate of the University of Manchester.
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