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In the movie Spiderman, there is a stage
in Peter Parker’s life where he earns money as a professional wrestler.
Using his superpowers, he wins fights against many different types of
opponents. Later, Parker realizes that it is not fair for someone with
superhuman powers to fight head-to-head against an average person.
There has been a recent renewal of public interest in political
dynasties. The 26-year-old regent of Bangkalan, Makmun Ibnu Fuad, is
continuing his father’s reign. The mayor of Cimahi was elected to
continue her husband’s term of office.
Banten is a prominent example of a family having a strong presence in
politics. Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah’s sister, Ratu Tatu Chasanah, is
the deputy regent of Serang, her stepbrother,Tb Haerul Jaman, is the
mayor of Serang and her sister in-law, Airin Rachmi Diany, is the regent
of South Tangerang. Numerous Banten councilors are also Atut’s blood relatives.
General director of Regional Autonomy Djohermansyah said that there were
57 local chief executives elected to continue the offices of blood
relatives. Concerns about political dynasties has prompted the government
to a submit revision of Law 32/2004 on local elections, which would
prohibit direct blood relative of local chief executives running in an
immediate local election to succeed the incumbent.
Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the prohibition includes vertical
relationships such as a father and child as well as horizontal blood
relationships such as brother and sister.
Opponents of the policy say that the prohibition would go against human
rights and equality before the law. They vow to challenge the bill at the
Constitutional Court (MK), if it is passed into law.
The fight against the excessive accumulation of power and the promotion
of fair competition within a clear legal framework was the essence of the
1998 reformation. Among the reformation’s legacy is decentralization,
which reduces the central government’s political power, presidential term
limitations and the formation of the Commission for the Supervision of
Business Competition (KPPU), which the curbs the excessive accumulation
of economic power.
However, there is no commission that ensures fair political competition.
Drawing from Aristotle’s distributive justice, there is an idea about
treating equals equally and unequal’s unequally (Nicomachean Ethics, Book
V, Chapter VI).
During the New Order, there was a joke going around that the most
important qualification for a president was having experience as a
president. Since the only person with presidential experience was
president Soeharto, he was re-elected without being challenged. The
constitutional amendment after Soeharto’s downfall that limits
presidential terms to a maximum of two is an acknowledgement that the
right to run for office is not absolute.
The term limit ensures the rise of new voices and fresh approaches at
least once a decade. It also applies Aristotle’s concept that a two-term
president would not compete on equal terms with any other person, thus
needs to be treated unequally by being prohibited from running for a
third term.
The public and legal community has agreed on the validity of prohibiting
the chief executive from a third term. The question is: Would prohibiting
the candidacy of direct relatives be justifiable?
Having an incumbent’s direct relative as a candidate would also deter a
highly qualified and competent person who is a nonrelative from running
for the same office. Empirical data shows that regions with lower social
mobility at top executive positions tend to display lower human
development and governance quality.
In his study entitled “Populism, Dynasty and Consolidation of Parties”,
Marcus Mietzener implies that Indonesia is still a society with a scent
of feudalism at the democracy consolidation stage. Many shadows of
Indonesia’s past looms close enough to pull it back from becoming a
mature democracy that is able to provide welfare for its people.
There is also a strong argument toward extending prohibition to nieces
and cousins as in the traditional kingdom; they got full family support
to become successors in the case that a child or brother did not display
adequate leadership and competence.
Indonesia also faces the problem of the politicization of civil service.
Formally, the civil service is neutral in elections. But there have been
many instances where the re-election of an incumbent executive benefitted
from the support of civil servants.
When an incumbent’s relative runs for office, he or she would benefit
from the incumbency by hook, respect and a speck of feudalism, or by
crook, a blatant directive to support, without any additional scrutiny
toward an incumbent.
If we look abroad, there are political dynasties in many countries. In
the US, there is the Bush family from which the father and son both
served as president, in the Philippines there is the Macapagal family
from which the father and daughter both served as president and in
Singapore there is the Lee family from which both the father and son
served as prime minister. There is one similarity between all the above
mentioned pairs, which is that they were all not elected consecutively.
There was at least one nonrelated person who served as chief executive
between the father and child’s term.
However, we should be careful in casting the net too wide. Prohibition
should not be more than one term. If a majority of the people elects a
blood relative after five years without the benefit of incumbency, then
that is a display of real support that should be respected. Expanding
prohibition between different levels and branches of the government would
be too much too soon. We should take one step then observe the impact.
Indonesia still has to address the problems of poverty, equality and
service provision. The Regional Autonomy Law puts responsibility on the
back of regents and mayors. Therefore, it is imperative that the regional
head is a capable person and is elected on their merits, not on ascribe
status and family relationships. As the Prophet Muhammad said, a country
that does not put its most capable people in governing positions is
waiting for its own destruction.
Law No. 5/1999 on antimonopoly states that economic freedom and
competition has its limits. It would be prudent to put some well-thought
legal limit on political competition in the revision of Law 32/2004 on
local government. As Peter Parker’s uncle would have said, “With great power, comes great
responsibility” to regulate it. ●
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