The
riddle of Indonesia’s non-voters
Sri Yanuarti ;
A researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) in Jakarta
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JAKARTA
POST, 06 April 2014
In only
a few days the country will vote on its future leaders. Sadly, the campaigns
we have seen thus far have not ignited much voting enthusiasm.
Society’s
dissatisfaction with the current batch of legislators and resentment of the
widespread corruption among the political elite will become ever more evident
in the legislative, and later presidential, election: It is easy to predict
that the number of abstainers or golput will be significant.
The
number of individuals choosing not to vote has risen consistently from one
election to another in the post-reformasi era. Based on General Elections
Commission (KPU) data, in the 1999 election about 10.4 percent of eligible
voters did not vote. In 2004 the figure rose dramatically to 23.3 percent in
the legislative election and 22.4 percent in the presidential election. In
2009, the last elections, the number of non-voters increased further to 29.01
percent for the legislative election and 27.8 percent for the presidential
election. In fact, in 2004 and 2009, non-voters outnumbered the amount of
votes garnered by both the winning political parties and presidential
candidates.
Abstainers
usually refuse to vote, but in some countries, it is manifested by dropping
blank or spoiled ballots in the poll boxes as a form of protest or
dissatisfaction. This behavior is common in the countries where voting is
compulsory, such as Australia, Belgium and Brazil.
Non-voting
behavior was also common in the New Order and post-reformasi era. Under the
Soeharto regime, non-voting was a protest against the ruling power. The
floating mass policy limited people’s affiliation to political parties. Also,
the implementation of state corporatism, a system to restrain political and
mass organizations by limiting specific groups to only one state-sanctioned
organization, generated political apathy among citizens.
Public
apathy was worsened by the predictable and unchanging winner — Soeharto. In
short, non-voting in the New Order was both a reflection of distrust and a
form of protest against the political system. As such, non-voting should not
simply be regarded as political apathy, social sickness or just labeled
“irresponsible”.
The
number of non-voters in the first free election in 1999 was not much
different from the elections under the New Order era, around 10 percent. But
expectation for political and economic change was an influencing factor upon
participation. After that, the number of non-voters raised dramatically to
more than double in the 2004 elections, to 23.2 percent and almost triple in
the 2009 elections.
Many
believe that the dramatic rise of nonvoters in the 2004 and 2009 elections
was a logical consequence of the bad performance of local legislative
councilors and House of Representative members, rampant corruption among
legislative members and political elites and a lack of capacity. Under the
administration of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, most lawmakers
sided with the government, not the people. Public disappointment with the
performance of both the executive and legislative institutions was a major
influencing factor on the high rate of non-voting.
In 2009,
despite critical attitudes of the political situation, non-voting was also a
result of problems in electoral management. The data of about 10 to 12 million
voters was “problematic”, leading to reports of millions being
disenfranchised, although only around 79,000 cases of registered voters were
filed in 11 provinces.
The
phenomenon of golput as a winner in the elections will likely happen again in
the upcoming elections. Law enforcement has failed to eliminate corruption
epidemic to the legislative bodies and political elites, increasing distrust
in government and judicial bodies. The condition has intensified apathy, not
to mention the technical problems in the voter registration list. All this
undermines efforts to encourage people to vote. Although golput can be
considered a punishment to politicians, non-voting is not meaningful for
change.
However,
rather than criminalizing golput, non-voting behavior should be used as a
mirror for politicians and political parties to improve their performance,
rebuild their integrity and uphold zero tolerance to corruption. The presence
of both critical citizens and committed politicians are essential in building
meaningful democracy in Indonesia. ●
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