Democratic integrity at stake
With many believing the 2024 indonesian presidential election to be probably the dirtiest and worst since reformasi, it’s now up to the country’s Constitutional Court to decide on the polls’ outcome on april 22.
THE nation awaits the decision of Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on April 22. This is not the first time the outcome of its presidential election is being contested in court. But for the 2024 election, too much is at stake – not just the reputation of a sitting president but the future of democracy itself, the third largest in the world.
The Indonesian election commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum, or KPU) officially announced the Prabowo Subiantogibran Rakabuming Raka ticket as the winning pair, with 58.6% of the votes. Anies Baswedanmuhaimin Iskandar were second in the counts with 24.9% while Ganjar Pranowo-mahfud MD received 16.7 % of the votes.
The losers challenged the outcome demanding to disqualify the winners and to call for a fresh election. They claimed the election was not fair nor just, and that there was abuse of power in the run-up to the polls. Many believed this is probably the most brutal, dirtiest and worst presidential election since Reformasi.
The term cawe-cawe (literally busy body) has been levelled at President Joko Widodo (or Jokowi) for campaigning openly for Prabowo-gibran. To his detractors, he has been advancing personal and familial interests in this election. Jokowi, too, has been accused of regressing to a pre-reformasi era. It is a betrayal of the reformist ideals. Even leaders at institutions of higher learning have voiced their concerns and demanded Jokowi to return “to the corridors of democracy.”
Considering he is still a hugely popular president with an approval rating hovering around 80%, every move he made during the campaign period was scrutinised. They claimed that he and his senior ministers were giving out social aid (bansos) 24 times in hotly-contested battlegrounds.
Interestingly, the Minister of Social Affairs, Tri Rismaharini, was nowhere to be seen during those events. Rismaharini is a member of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) which the pair Ganjar-mahfud belongs to. PDI-P is part of Jokowi’s coalition. The party led by Indonesia’s political matriarch, Megawati Sukarnoputri has been supporting Jokowi since his days as wali kota (mayor) of Solo, his bid for governorship of Jakarta and later his first attempt to be the president in 2014. They were there again for him in 2019.
But Jokowi turned his back on PDI-P, instead supporting Prabowo who named Jokowi’s son, Gibran, his running mate. For Megawati, it is simply a betrayal.
On April 11, she wrote an open letter published in her own handwriting in the Kompas newspaper. It was a well-crafted letter seeking “true justice” for the people of Indonesia. She wrote, “the gavel of the Constitutional Court judge will signal whether we choose the darkness of compromised democracy or the dawn of justice.” She reminded the eight judges sitting on the bench that the people of Indonesia are keenly observing the proceedings and results. The people are watching if the judges can resolve the dispute “with conscience and statesmanship” or allowing a practice rife with alleged abuses of power “to stain the history of Indonesian democracy.”
She further argued that the judges are not only guardians of the constitution and democracy, but also bearers of the legality and legitimacy needed to ensure that justice truly manifests – particularly
nd when confronting “the walls of power.”
It all started when Gibran, Jokowi’s eldest son, who did not meet the minimum 40-year-old age requirement, was allowed to contest as Deputy President. The Constitutional Court headed by his uncle, Anwar Usman, cleared the way for his candidacy. That was despite only three judges voting in favour.
Two others agreed to the lowering of age but on condition that potential candidates must hold a position of a Governor or equivalent. Gibran was just a mayor. Four other judges dissented.
As the result of the public outcry that ensued, the Honorary Council of the Constitutional Court convened a meeting and found that Anwar Usman violated ethics and he was demoted.
It is heartening to know that the dominant issue regarding the 2024 presidential dispute is about ethical dimensions. At the proceedings, almost the entire discourse was on ethics – particular the breaches as argued by the challengers. The question of ethics pertaining to the president and those around him was also raised.
As argued by one of the witnesses, ethics – the doctrine of right and wrong – mirrors the quality of human beings. Even legal provisions ring hollow if ethics is being ignored.
Never before had so many illustrious individuals – lawyers on both sides of the political divide, prominent witnesses, experts in constitution and digital forensics – graced a court. And the quality of discussion was outstanding, proving to the world how mature the discourse on politics is in Indonesia. But of course, there is a flamboyant lawyer representing the Prabowo- Gibran team who irked the judges more than once with his theatrics. Rocky Gerung, one of Indonesia’s best known political commentators opined that the rings on this individual’s fingers are more shiny than his brain.
It is not easy to prove election fraud and irregularity. It is a tall order for the Anies-muhaimin and Ganjar-mahfud teams to prove widespread, structured and systematic fraud during the presidential election.
Democracy is never perfect, certainly not in a nation that is home to 270 million people. But the challenge of a step forward is ensuring that there is avenue for check and balance.
Democratic integrity is at stake here.