JAKARTA: Indonesian president-elect Joko Widodo accused his opponents yesterday of rolling back democracy after parliament voted to scrap direct elections of local officials. The outgoing legislature voted early yesterday to scrap the local polls, a heavy blow for Widodo, who rose to power through the system and whose party had campaigned against the proposal.
The new law takes away the people’s right to choose mayors, provincial governors and district heads across the archipelago, and instead hands power to local parliaments to pick them.
While opponents of the current system argued that holding so many elections was hugely costly and often caused conflicts, supporters said that doing away with the polls would be a setback for democracy and a return to a system used during the time of dictator Suharto, toppled in 1998.
The move to abolish the elections was seen as revenge by political opponents of Widodo, known by his nickname Jokowi. He started his career by winning direct election as a mayor before securing the presidency in July.
Parties that backed his rival, ex-general Prabowo Subianto, provided support for the bill.
There had been much opposition to the plan and Widodo, a former furniture exporter from a humble background, sought yesterday to appeal to the large sections of the public who were disappointed.
“The public can see which parties have taken away people’s political rights. Take note,” he told reporters in the capital Jakarta.
Pro-democracy groups said they planned to challenge the move at the Constitutional Court and some analysts predict that the judges would overturn the parliament’s decision.
Tobias Basuki, an analyst from Jakarta-based think-tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said that if the law did remain in force, it would be a “huge, huge step back” for Indonesia’s young democracy.
In the coming years there would be an increase in “political horse-trading” and corruption in local parliaments as MPs make closed-door deals on who to pick as local leader, he predicted.
It would reduce the public’s interest in the political process and put a halt to new-style leaders from outside the political and military elites, such as Widodo, winning office, he added. AFP
