Institute of South East Asia Studies (ISEAS)-Yusof Ishak Institute held a symposium on the 2019 Indonesian Election in Singapore (11-12/7). Titled “Analyzing the Outcomes and Implications of the 2019 Elections”, the symposium was attended by a number of speakers who discussed issues that have also become global trends such as identity politics, social media hoaxes, economic/class politics, and gender. There have been positive achievements but there are many unfavorable conditions that other Southeast Asian countries can learn from.
"Indonesia with its diversity has a variety of perspectives to study," said the Coordinator of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Indonesia Studies Program, Hui Yew-Foong.
Indonesia's 2019 democratic festival indeed illustrates the global trend of democracy. Among them are mass polarization between groups acting in the name of inclusive groups and exclusive groups of identity politics.
More inclusive?
The executive director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia, Philips J Vermonte reminded, based on the election results, an inclusive group with the figure of Joko Widodo-Makruf Amin, won the election. This is a differentiator with other countries because on the contrary, it is the exclusive group that wins the election. For example, the United States with Donald Trump, India with the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi, the Philippines with Rodrigo Duterte, and Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
One of the speakers, Leo Suryadinata with the paper "Ethnic Chinese Political Participation in Indonesia since the Fall of Soharto", explained that the 2019 Legislative Elections provided enough space for ethnic Chinese (Chinese) politicians. There are two ethnic Chinese politicians who lead the new political party, the first is Grace Natalia (Chairman of the Indonesian Solidarity Party/PSI); the second is Hary Tanoe Soedibyo (Chairman of the Indonesian Unity Party/Perindo). Grace got a vote above the average for other DPR legislator candidates, but because PSI's vote was only about 2% so it did not exceed the parliamentary threshold of 4%, Grace did not become a member of the DPR.
The quite positive situation from the legislative election did not occur in the 2019 Presidential Election campaign. Instead, anti-Chinese sentiment was in the campaign. Visiting fellow ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Quinton Temby, described anti-China sentiment as a way for Islamic groups to mobilize the masses to support Prabowo against Jokowi.
Researcher from ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Dyah Ayu Kartika, said that there is a dynamic of women's involvement in the 2019 Election. Her presentation “The Power of Mothers: Women and Conservative Political Agenda in Indonesia's 2019 Election explained that women are called “emak-emak” [mothers] who support Prabowo-Sandi, it is difficult to call it a political mobilization. Mothers who experience economic problems in the domestic sphere have public aspirations to evaluate Jokowi's Indonesian leadership.
"In addition to the increasing number of nominations and electability of women in the legislative elections, the presence of mothers is a form of openness to the 2019 election space for women, even though mothers are part of the Prabowo-Sandi exclusive group," said Dyah.
The executive director of The Asia Foundation Indonesia, Sandra Hamid, believes that the offer of inclusivism in Indonesia has a fundamental problem. Open claims to diversity have been narrated through the jargon "Pancasila" and "Islam Nusantara". According to her, these two narratives are Javacentric which is also a form of exclusivism. This Javanese exclusivism is ethnically a part of Jokowi's victory against Prabowo.
“For most Javanese people, Pancasila is not a problem. But for the Minang, Sundanese, and others, Pancasila feels Javanese. Likewise with Islam Nusantara, which is conveyed by Nahdatul Ulama, which is also Javacentric," said Sandra.
Academic from Thailand, Punchada Sirivunnabood questioned the dynamics of Indonesian politics with the direct election of executive leaders. "Why isn't the opposition's function working well?" she asked. In fact, the opposition is very important as part of the check and balance mechanism of the Indonesian presidential system.
For Punchada, what is more confusing is the composition of the coalition and opposition in a number of areas. In the central government, the elite and the masses of the PDIP and PKS are at odds, but in the provincial and district/city elections, these two political parties with contrasting ideologies can even form a coalition.
Recommendations
To overcome the problem of exclusivism and mass polarization in Indonesian democracy, Sandra Hamid argues, it is better to strengthen inclusive political education in civil society. The large state budget funding for diversity insight, should not be spent in the form of institutional procurement and Pancasila normative education, but rather given to various youth initiatives that are cut off from the politicization of Pancasila and the Java-centric Islam of the Archipelago.
ISEAS-Yusof Institute visiting researcher, Firman Noor, suggested that in the electoral system, the requirement for presidential nomination of 20% of seats or 25% of the votes from the DPR election results should be re-emphasized. This makes the masses in the midst of declining economic prosperity easy to mobilize. Moreover, more detailed law enforcement must be made to overcome Indonesia's expensive elections accompanied by money politics for low-income voters.
The political economy writer with a class perspective, Max Lane argues, in the midst of polarization between nationalist and religious exclusivism, it is important to strengthen class ideology (the left). At least, if there is an additional ideological alternative, the potential for violent clashes from nationalist and religious polarization can be reduced.
"Unfortunately, the left has not worked hard in democratic institutions. Ideology becomes meaningful if it is channeled and fought for through political parties and elections. It is very difficult to improve party institutions to produce inclusive democracy if the formation and participation of political parties in elections still has very heavy requirements," said Max Lane.
ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute through this symposium also presented the Candidate for Vice President 02 Election 2019, Sandiaga Uno. With a presentation entitled "Beyond 2019", Sandi said that the future of Indonesia is determined by millennial youth and mothers (women). In the 2019 election, both votes determine electability. After the 2019 election, it is important for young people and women to be involved in building a better Indonesia. []
USEP HASAN SADIKIN
