The 1998 reform wave reached its peak with the resignation of Suharto as President who had just been re-elected a year earlier through the General Session of the MPR RI. Furthermore, BJ Habibie, who at that time was Vice President, replaced Suharto, who resigned from the presidency on May 21, 1998. BJ Habibie's rise as president to replace Suharto did not necessarily dampen demands for reform. One of the demands of the public after the rolling reforms is a change in Indonesia's political system to a more democratic one.
During the transition period from the New Order to Reformasi, the political situation was still not conducive. Fundamental changes to Indonesian politics occurred after the 1945 Constitution underwent amendments. One of the crucial things in this change is the implementation of direct elections. The general election was implemented for the first time in 2004. In its journey, many dynamics have colored the implementation of direct general elections in Indonesia. Starting from the electoral system which was originally a closed proportional system, then it was modified to become semi-open and finally it is now being implemented into a purely open proportional system. Some of these things will be described in the article below.
Photo 1. Student demonstration demanding Suharto's resignation at the DPR Building, Senayan, Jakarta, which marked the end of the New Order's rule. Photo source: Kompas
Photo 2. After various attempts to defend the government failed, Suharto then resigned on May 21, 1998.
Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org
Transition Period
In the context of the five-year election cycle, the government of President BJ Habibie and his Development Reform Cabinet should last until 2002. The political situation that took place at that time required that the Government of the 3rd President of the Republic of Indonesia only last 13 months. Even though he was in office for just over a year, during this period several important events were recorded.
Photo 3. Oath taking of BJ Habibie as President of the Republic of Indonesia replacing Suharto. Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org
First, BJ Habibie's government was an important transitional period from the New Order Era to the Reformation Era. This is understandable considering BJ Habibie as President is more to the mandate of the law which requires the vice president to step up if the president is absent or resigns. Besides that, the most important thing is that BJ Habibie is still seen as part of the New Order. Second, the heated socio-political constellation in almost all regions had an impact on Indonesia's economic crisis. Third, the weakening of public trust not only in the Government but also in the state. One of them is the disintegration of East Timor from the Republic of Indonesia.
After the amendments were made, the 2004 elections were held directly to elect members of the DPR, DPD and DPRD as well as the President and Vice President. The electoral system for the election of the DPR and DPRD (Provincial, District/City) is carried out using a balanced (proportional) representation system with a closed list system.
At least the three main conditions above prompted the immediate holding of the 1999 general election based on honesty and fairness. President Habibie himself was well aware of this condition and initiated the acceleration of the General Elections from 2020 to 1999. These elections were considered very important to determine the direction of the nation's destiny after the collapse of the New Order.
At the beginning of the reform era, it became a pillar of democratic freedom, which had so far experienced blockages, especially during the New Order era. One of the important points in freedom of democracy is the birth of MPR Decree No. XVIII/MPR/1998 concerning the Repeal of TAP MPR No. II/MPR/1978 concerning Pancasila as the single principle. This is one of the reasons for the emergence of many political parties that registered and took part in the 1999 Election with various party organizational foundations/ideologies.
1999 election
The push for reform also made BJ Habibie's transitional government formulate Law No. 2 of 1999 concerning Political Parties, Law No. 2 of 1999 concerning General Elections, and Law No. 4 of 1999 concerning the composition and position of the MPR, DPR and DPRD. Elections in 1999 to elect the legislature (DPR-RI) and the executive. Even though the election for president and vice president was still through the election mechanism in the MPR, the 1999 elections were seen as the most democratic in post-reform history. This condition can be seen from at least two things, namely the number of participants in multi-party elections and the relatively high level of voter turnout.
Photo 4. Parties contesting the 1999 election. Photo source: Kompas, via Banten Election Commission. Click the image to see a larger size.
Legislative Elections
The faucet for reform that was wide open became a breath of fresh air for democracy in Indonesia through the 1999 elections. If for decades during the New Order era the role of political parties was limited through a fusion policy that only accommodated two political parties (PPP and PDI) and one Golongan Karya (Golkar). In the 7 June 1999 Legislative Election, a total of 141 political parties registered as election participants. Of these, 48 parties have passed as election contestants. The next interesting fact is the emergence of political parties that have various principles. Except for communism, the principle of political parties at that time was not only Pancasila but multi-spectrum such as being based on religion.
The 1999 election was recorded as the election with the highest voter turnout after the fall of the New Order. The number of registered voters in the 1999 election was 118,158,778 voters. Of that number, 92.74 percent of voters used their voting rights, aka 7.26 percent did not exercise their voting rights. The election that year was recorded as the election with the highest voter turnout in the reform era. Reporting from the kpu.go.id page, the results of the distribution of seats show that five major parties bought up 417 seats in the DPR or 90.26 percent of the 462 seats contested. Golkar, the party that always won every election during the New Order era, lost this election. (terakota.id, 07/06/2018).
PDI Perjuangan won the 1999 election by winning 35,689,073 votes or 33.74 percent and was entitled to 153 seats. Golkar gained 23,741,758 votes or 22.44 percent and won 120 seats. PKB won 13,336,982 votes or 12.61 percent and was entitled to 51 seats. PPP with 11,329,905 votes or 10.71 percent won 58 seats. PAN won 7,528,956 votes or 7.12 percent, getting 34 seats. The results of the 1999 election which used a balanced (proportional) representation system also led to Amin Rais as chairman of the MPR and Akbar Tanjung as chairman of the DPR for the 1999-2004 period. The following details the acquisition of the number of seats in the 1999 election (table 1).
Table 1.
1999 Legislative Election Results
Photo 5. Source: KompasPedia. Indonesian Political Parties 1999-2009. Click on the table image to view a larger size.
In general, the implementation of this election went smoothly. New obstacles appeared during the process of counting votes and distributing seats. At the vote counting stage, there were 27 political parties that refused to sign the minutes of the vote count. The party's reason is that the holding of elections has not carried out the principles of honesty and fairness (jurdil). Twenty-seven political parties refused to sign the 1999 election results, including the Justice Party, PNU, PBI, PDI, Masyumi, PNI Supeni, Krisna, WE Party, PKD, PAY, MKGR Party, PIB, SUNI Party, PNBI, PUDI. , PBN, PKM, PND, PADI, PRD, PPI, PID, Murba, SPSI, PUMI, PSP, and PARI. (terakota.id, 07/06/2018)
Presidential election
The important events that accompanied the 1999 presidential and vice-presidential elections began with President BJ Habibie's accountability report at the Special Session of the MPR RI on 14 October 1999. This accountability was rejected by the MPR on 20 October 1999.
The 1999 Indonesian Presidential Election was held to elect the President and Vice President of Indonesia for the 1999-2004 term. This election was held on the agenda of the 1999 General Assembly of the People's Consultative Assembly after the 1999 Legislative Election. This election was held in two stages, namely on October 20, 1999 to elect the President of the Republic of Indonesia and October 21, 1999 to elect the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. This election produced President Abdurrahman Wahid who was installed on October 20, 1999 and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri who was installed on October 21, 1999.
Hours before the vote count began, most people assumed that Megawati would run for victory. Because in the election, the PDI-P party which carried Megawati won the most votes, but a surprise came when Habibie (incumbent) who was carried by the Golongan Karya Party (Golkar) announced his resignation as a presidential candidate. Practically, only Gus Dur and Megawati remained. At that time the presidential election was still using the election system conducted by members of the MPR. When the count began, Mega was initially in the lead, but slowly but surely, Gus Dur's vote, which was supported by the Central Axis camp, was able to offset Megawati's. In fact, the situation turned around when in the final count Gus Dur collected 60 more votes. Gus Dur became President. Accompanied by the chanting of badar prayers, Gus Dur was helped to his feet and guided to the podium to be sworn in as president (merdeka.com, 19/10/2019). Another figure who withdrew during the determination of the presidential candidate was Yusril Ihza Mahendra. It is suspected that Yusril's resignation has smoothed the "central axis" that supports Gus Dur's candidacy.
The election of the President and Vice President itself at that time was not carried out in one election package but in two stages namely; Phase I: Presidential Election (20 October 1999) and Phase II Election of the Vice President which was held on October 21, 1999. The following are the results of the 1999 Presidential and Vice Presidential Election (table 2).
Table 2.
Results of the 1999 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections
Photo 5. Source: processed from medcom.id.
President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) was supposed to serve until 2004, but the political situation at that time made him last less than two years (20 October 1999 – 23 July 2001). During the course of the government, there was disharmony between the executive and the legislature, which culminated in the holding of an MPR Special Session, which Gusdur opposed by issuing a Presidential Decree of 23 July 2001, the point of which was to reject the results of the MPR SI. In the end, Gusdur was reluctant to accept the decision to dismiss him as President.
Gus Dur was deposed politically by parliament through the Special Session (SI) of the MPR RI on July 23, 2001. Prior to the session, Gus Dur resisted by issuing a Presidential Decree. The resistance was not to defend his position as president, but to reject a parliamentary move which he said was unconstitutional. A number of accusations directed at him were also not legally proven (nu.or.id: 23/07/2019). The Special Session of the MPR on 23 July 2001 also gave a mandate to Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hamzah Haz as President of the Republic of Indonesia.
2004 election
The 2004 election was the first direct election to elect the president and vice president, DPR, DPD and DPRD. The idea of direct election was born because there was a dark history of political administration in the Old Order and New Order regimes. During the Old Order era under the leadership of President Soekarno, a violation of the constitution occurred when Soekarno accepted his appointment as President for life following the issuance of the TAP MPRS which read "Dr. Ir Soekarno (Mr. Soekarno), the Great Leader of the Indonesian Revolution, who is now the President of the Republic of Indonesia, with the grace of God Almighty hereby becomes the President of Indonesia for life.” This is also the case with state administration during the New Order era under President Soeharto's regime, which imposed strict control on parties. In order to tighten control over existing political parties. Article 14 (1) of Law Number 1 of 1985 concerning Political Parties authorizes the President to dissolve parties that do not comply with state objectives.
Photo 5. Parties contesting the 2004 election. Photo source: Election Commission Banten. Click the image to see a larger size.
In its development, a discourse emerged to amend the 1945 Constitution. Issues related to the direct election of the President and Vice President became the most discussed topic. There is encouragement from the public to make elections more democratic. This era of democratic transition became a momentum to build community participation which was previously shackled by Suharto's authoritarian government. Not only for holding elections, the reform era is a sign of the growth of a healthier multi-party system. Political competition is becoming more open to anyone who wants to take part. The party oligarchy is more or less eroded by active public participation.
After the amendments were made, the 2004 elections were held directly to elect members of the DPR, DPD and DPRD as well as the President and Vice President. The electoral system for the election of the DPR and DPRD (Provincial, District/City) is carried out using a balanced (proportional) representation system with a closed list system. Political parties will get the number of seats the number of valid votes they get. Acquisition of this seat will be given to candidates who meet or exceed the value of the BPP. If there are none, seats will be given to candidates based on serial number. Meanwhile, elections to elect DPD members are carried out using a multi-represented district system.
Photo 6. The debate of the Indonesian Presidential candidates was held for the first time in the series of the 2004 Presidential Election. Photo Source: Compass
The closed proportional system in 2004 underwent modifications when it was implemented. At the time of its implementation in 2004 the electoral system that was known was actually a semi-open balanced (proportional) representative system. The purpose of this semi-open system is that the determination of who will represent the party in obtaining seats in the DPR/DPRD is not based on the acquisition of the most votes but still based on serial numbers. Even if there is a candidate outside the serial number, the candidate must have enough votes in the Voters' Dividend Number (BPP). However, this condition is very difficult to fulfill. So in fact it does not meet the requirements of the BPP. Finally, the Constitutional Court issued MK decisions No. 22 and 24/PUU/2008 which granted a judicial review of article 214 of Law No. 10 of 2008 concerning General Elections for members of the DPR, DPD and DPRD, changing the legislative election system from a closed proportional system to an open proportional system with the most votes. In such a system, the serial number on the list of candidates is no longer used as a measure to determine which candidate represents the party in obtaining seats if there are no candidates who meet the BPP (Ramdani, 2014). Most votes are used as a measure in determining the elected candidate. The proportional system was implemented in the 2009 election.
Legislative elections were held on April 5, 2004. Elections were held simultaneously to elect 550 members of the DPR, 128 members of the DPD, as well as members of the DPRD (Provincial and Regency/City DPRDs). The number of Fixed Voters List (DPT) is 148,000,369 (BPS). The 2004 election was attended by 24 political parties participating in the election, but it turned out that only 16 political parties won seats in the DPR. Voter participation rate in the Legislative Election was 84.07 percent (Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas). The details of the number of seats are as follows (table 3).
Table 3.
2004 Legislative Election Results
Photo 5. Source: General Election Commission (KPU), 2010.
The election for President and Vice President was held in two rounds, namely on 5 July 2004 (round I) and 20 September 2004 (round II). Voter participation rate in the Presidential Election was 77.44 percent (Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas). Participants in the 2004 round I (first) presidential and vice presidential elections were 5 (five) pairs. Because none of the five presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs participating in round I (first) had received more than 50% votes, round II (second) elections were held, with the two presidential and vice presidential candidate pairs obtaining the first and second most votes. After the second round of elections were held, the elected pair of President and Vice President were Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla. In detail, the vote acquisition can be seen in the table below (table 4, table 5).
Table 4.
Results of the First Round of the 2004 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections
Photo 5. Source: General Election Commission (KPU), 2010.
Table 5.
Results of Round II of the 2004 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections
Photo 5. Source: General Election Commission (KPU), 2010.
2009 election
The 2009 election was the second election held directly. The 2009 elections to elect members of the DPR, Provincial DPRD, Regency/Municipal DPRD were carried out using a balanced (proportional) representation system with an open list of candidates system. The seats won by each political party reflect a proportion of the total votes each political party won. The mechanism of this system gives a big role to voters to determine their own representatives who will sit in the representative body. The elected candidates are those who get the most votes. To elect DPD members it is carried out with a multi-represented district system. The districts here are provinces, where each province has 4 (four) representatives. Legislative elections were held on 9 April 2009 to elect 560 members of the DPR, 132 members of the DPD, as well as members of the DPRD (Province, Regency/City). The total DPT is 171,265,442 (BPS). Voter participation rate in the Legislative Election was 70.99 percent (Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas). Parties participating in the 2004 elections were joined by 38 national political parties and 6 local political parties specifically in Aceh. The number of seats obtained for each party can be seen in the table below (table 6).
Table 6.
2009 Legislative Election Results
Source: General Election Commission (KPU), 2010.
The presidential and vice-presidential elections were held on 8 July 2009. The turnout rate for the presidential election was 72.56 percent (Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas). The presidential and vice presidential elections are carried out in one round. There are three pairs of candidates who take part in the election, namely as follows (table 7).
Table 7.
Results of the 2009 Presidential and Vice Presidential Elections
Source: General Election Commission (KPU), 2010.
Ahead of the 2009 election, the DPR is planning a Draft Law (RUU) on election organizers. Had surfaced to abolish Panwaslu in the bill. The existence of Panwaslu is considered less effective in holding elections when compared to the budget issued. Election supervision can be returned to the public, observers or election participants. Panwaslu's authority is to submit written reports, warnings, recommendations and act as a mediator. The DPR finally decided to keep the Panwaslu as an effort to improve the quality of democracy in Indonesia. The Panwaslu name changed to Bawaslu. The authority of the Bawaslu has become more parallel to that of the KPU. This can be considered as a big leap because since the New Order era until the 2004 election Panwaslu was not permanent or ad hoc.
Photo 7. Debate of the 2009 Indonesian Presidential candidates between Megawati Sukarnoputri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Jusuf Kalla. Photo Source: Between
The change from Panwaslu to Bawaslu made the position of the Bawaslu organization equal to that of the KPU, Bawaslu was no longer subordinate to the KPU. The new authority designed for Bawaslu is to oversee the ranks of the KPU/KPUD and election officials under them so that when carrying out their duties they comply with election regulations. Bawaslu has the authority to provide recommendations to dismiss regional KPU and KPU members who are deemed to have violated election laws and regulations, so that Bawaslu is able to exercise effective control over election organizers (Surbakti, 2015).
The issue of women's representation in the political field emerged in the 2009 election. It is hoped that this policy of affirmative action will be the starting point for realizing equality and justice for women. This is in accordance with the mandate contained in Law Number 2 of 2008 concerning political parties and Law Number 10 of 2008 concerning General Elections for DPR, DPD and DPRD members which provide special treatment with a quota of 30% for women is the first step to encourage representation women towards equality and justice, but it is very unfortunate that in its journey this affirmative action policy was indirectly "annulled" through the decision of the Constitutional Court Decision Number 22-24/PUU-VI/2008 which canceled the entry into force of Article 214 Letters a,b,c, d, and e where the provisions of Article 214 Letters a, b, c, d, and e are essentially canceling the use of serial numbers in determining the elected legislative candidates but based on the majority of votes so that with the cancellation the zipper system will automatically be based on the number order to determine the position of women cannot be carried out (Thalib, 2014).
2014 election
The 2014 election is the fourth election in the reform era. Two elections were held in 2014, namely legislative elections (9 April) and presidential and vice-presidential elections (9 July). The 2014 legislative election was attended by 12 political parties and 3 local political parties and fought over 560 seats in parliament. While the presidential election was attended by two pairs of candidates, namely the first pair Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa supported by the Gerindra Party, PAN, PKS, Golkar Party, PPP and PBB, and the second pair Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin was supported by PDIP, Nasdem Party, PKB and the Hanura Party.
In the history of the presidential election in Indonesia, the 2014 presidential election was the first presidential election to be participated in by two pairs of candidates. The number of candidates, which only have two pairs, creates a problem legally because on the one hand, the 145 Constitution requires a minimum vote acquisition of 50%+1 plus at least 20 percent of the votes in each province and on the other hand Law no. 42 of 2008 adheres to a two round system. This becomes a problem if there are only 2 pairs of candidates and no one achieves the distribution of votes. If this happens, does the candidate pair that achieves 50%+1 votes automatically become the winner even though they do not reach the vote distribution or does a second round of voting need to be carried out with the same candidate pair? This condition became clear after the issuance of the Constitutional Court Decision which stated that the candidate pair with 50%+1 votes was automatically declared the winner (Secretary General of Bawaslu, 2015).
Photo 8. Debates for the 2014 Indonesian presidential candidates between the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Radjasa and Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla pairs. Photo Source: Compass
In addition, the presidential election with 2 (two) pairs of candidates has created very tight competition. Head to head does not only occur between candidate pairs but also between supporters, the media, to pollsters and quick counts. The rivalry between survey agencies and quick counts was very clear on voting day when a quick count of the results of the presidential election was held. One institution with another very different results. It is obvious that the academic integrity of survey institutions or quick counts was at stake in the 2014 presidential election (Secretary General of Bawaslu, 2015).
Apart from the intense competition between candidates, voter turnout in the 2014 election was recorded to show a fairly high percentage. The number of DPT in the 2014 election was 190,307,134. For the Pileg, the level of voters who attended and used their votes was 72 percent. This participation rate is still quite significant and relatively high, although it has not reached the target set by the KPU of 75 percent. Meanwhile the participation rate for the Presidential Election shows a lower percentage than the Legislative Election, around 69.58 percent. This participation rate also missed the KPU's target of 75 percent (Nurhasim, 2014).
Photo 9. Vision and Mission of each pair of President/Vice President in the 2014 Election. Photo Source: KPUD Cirebon. Click the image to see a larger size.
The 2014 presidential election was won by the pair Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla with a vote of 53.15 percent, beating the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa pair who received a vote of 46.65 percent. As for the Pileg, PDI Perjuangan won the election with 23,681,471 votes, followed by the Golkar Party with 18,432,312 votes, and Gerindra with 14,760,371 votes, then last year's election winner, the Democratic Party, fell to fourth place with 12,728,914 voice (BBC, 10/5/2014). Overall, 10 of the 12 parties participating in the 2014 election met the national threshold of 3.50 percent (table 8, table 9).
Table 8.
2014 Presidential Election Results
Source: BBC, 10/5/2014.
Table 9.
2014 Legislative Election Results
Source: Center for Political Studies, University of Indonesia.
What was noted in the implementation of the 2014 election was the addition of one more election management body, namely the Honorary Board of Organizers (DKPP). This institution was formed based on Law 12 of 2003 and functions as an institution tasked with dealing with violations of the code of ethics for other election organizers, namely the KPU and Bawaslu. DKPP is permanent and domiciled in the National Capital. The DKPP consists of 7 elements from the KPU, Bawaslu, DPR, and the government. In the 2009 election, the PT used was 2.5%. Whereas in the 2014 elections there was an increase in PT to 3.5%.
2019 election
In 2019, for the first time Indonesia held the Pileg and Presidential Election simultaneously on the same day and time, namely on April 17 2019. There are a total of 16 national political parties, plus 4 local politics in Aceh that participated in the 2019 Pileg. This number has increased from The 2014 legislative elections consisted of 12 national political parties and 3 local political parties (kumparan.com, 13/04/2018). Meanwhile, for the 2019 presidential election, there are still two candidate pairs, namely pair number 01 Joko Widodo-Ma'ruf Amin and pair number 02 Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno.
Photo 10. Candidate for President serial number 01, Joko Widodo in a campaign in front of his potential voters Photo Source: BBC-Indonesia.com
It is undeniable that identity politics has become a big theme that has colored the implementation of the 2019 election. The strengthening of identity politics is allegedly the result of the 2014 presidential election battle that was not over (Jokowi vs. Prabowo) as well as political polarization in the 2017 DKI Jakarta gubernatorial election, especially after the 212 Mass Action Movement. The use of identity politics is shown through various narratives related to religion or ideology, starting from Jokowi being anti-Islam, Prabowo not being able to recite the Koran, Jokowi being a descendant of the PKI, to Prabowo being a supporter of ISIS. The widespread use of identity politics then influences the behavior and attitudes of political parties and presidential candidates. From Joko Widodo's side, for example, the cancellation of the vice presidential candidate's name from Mahfud MD to Ma'ruf Amin quickly demonstrated a political strategy to win over Muslim voters. Meanwhile, from Prabowo's point of view, there is a need to accommodate the interests of the Muslim political elite in determining the cawapres. These elites are members of the ijtima 'ulama of the GNPF (National Movement for Guardians of Fatwa) MUI, which has been held twice (Fernandes, 2018).
Photo 11. Presidential candidate serial number 02, Prabowo Subianto in one of the campaigns in front of his potential voters Photo Source: Tirto.id
Apart from the election battle contest, voter turnout in the 2018 election has increased compared to the previous election. Based on KPU data, the number of voters or DPT in the 2019 election who were both at home and abroad reached 199,987,870, while those who exercised their right to vote were 158,012,506. This means that the level of public participation in the 2019 election reached 81 percent, an increase of almost 10 percent when compared to the 2014 election (kompas.com, 27/05/2019).
Based on the KPU recapitulation results, the 2019 presidential election was won by the Joko Widodo pair with 55.50 percent, beating the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno pair with 44.50 percent. Meanwhile for the Pileg, PDI Perjuangan won the election with 27,053 votes, followed by Gerindra with 17,594,839 votes, and Golkar with 13,570,097 votes (Kontan, 05/21/2019) (table 10, table 11).
Table 10.
2019 Presidential Election Results
Source: Kompas, 21/05/2019.
Table 11.
2019 Legislative Election Results
Source: kontan.co.id, 05/21/2019.
The simultaneous aspect has made the 2019 election one of the most complicated elections in the world. How could it not be, once they enter the voting booth, voters must open five ballots, then choose five names from among the hundreds of candidates listed on it. There are several records related to holding simultaneous elections, including:
- The 2019 simultaneous elections drew a lot of criticism because they were seen as not anticipating the workload of the Voting Organizing Group (KPPS). It was recorded that 894 KPPS officers died as a result of the workload being too heavy, especially during the vote counting process (kompas.com, 22/01/2020).
- Many voters are confused when they have to choose candidates for legislative members because their information is drowned out by information related to the election for presidential and cawapres candidates.
- Overseas, voters lose their rights due to the slow distribution of ballot papers and the limited duration of voting.
Notes
The 1999 election can be said to be a transitional period from the New Order to the reform period. In less than five years (1998-2001) three Presidents have changed, starting with BJ Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati. Even though the election for the President and Vice President is still carried out by the MPR, the legislative election process has been a success. As the first election after the 1999 reform, public interest was so high that the birth of change after the collapse of the new order. The 1999 election was recorded as the election with the highest voter turnout after the fall of the New Order. The number of registered voters in the 1999 election was 118,158,778 voters. Of that number, 92.74 percent of voters used their voting rights, aka 7.26 percent did not exercise their voting rights. Even so, it does not mean that the 1999 election was without flaws. This is at least seen from the quality of the election organizers and the results themselves, which are suspected to be full of fraud. Elements of election organizers who were considered "obese" were 53 people (48 from political parties participating in the election plus 5 government representatives). It becomes a crucial issue related to the vulnerability of conflicts of interest if the election participants are also the organizers.
The existence of the New Order transition period to reformation was a sign that there was a shift from an authoritarian era that was centralized to a more democratic era. One of the ways to implement democratization in Indonesia is through the implementation of direct general elections. One of the important instruments in democracy is the opportunity for people to participate actively in politics. Direct elections are the answer for the people in choosing the political candidates they want to become public officials. The New Order regime, which was marked by the enduring power of Suharto for 32 years, made elite circulation closed. When this regime fell, it automatically became a breath of fresh air for Indonesia towards a better era of openness.
The reform transition period does not necessarily make democracy implemented so easily. When the New Order came to power, power was concentrated in one person, namely Suharto. During Soeharto's reign, there were political actors in power in the regions who helped perpetuate Soeharto's rule at the center. The relationship between Suharto and the local actors is a symbiotic mutualism. Suharto gave feedback on the loyalty given by these actors. After the rolling reforms, these local actors continued to transform, who previously worked for Suharto's interests, now working for his personal interests. This was also agreed upon by the introduction of regional autonomy and decentralization. The distribution of authority from the center to the regions has the effect of abuse for local actors who help perpetuate their power in the regions. This is what finally blooms called the phenomenon of political dynasty. Public officials in the regions are busy placing their relatives to occupy political positions.
One of the fundamental changes made to implement democratization in Indonesia was by amending the 1945 Constitution. After the amendment was made, the first elections were held in 2004. The electoral system applied to legislative elections uses a semi-open proportional system. The division of parliamentary seats based on serial numbers using the BPP resulted in many candidates not being elected because they did not meet the provisions of the BPP. Entering the 2009 election, the election system was revised by the Constitutional Court to become an open proportional system. The determination of DPR seats is based on a majority vote.
The 2014 and 2019 elections took place when technology in Indonesia had experienced rapid progress. This then has an impact on the campaign model which eventually extends to social media. What needs to be noted in the 2014 and 2019 elections is the campaign on social media which is filled with malicious campaigns such as hoaxes, slander and hate speech. Especially in the 2019 election, the big theme that colored social media was identity politics. Positive and useful campaign content is inferior to malicious campaign content on social media.
Reference
BBC.com, 10 May 2014. KPU Validates Election Results, PDIP Number 1. https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/berita_indonesia/2014/05/140509_rekapitulasi_kpu
BPS. Number of Voters Registered in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 Legislative Elections of the People's Representative Council (DPR). in-the-legislative-elections of the people's-representative-house-of-the-2004-2009-and-2014.html
Fernandes, Arya. Identity Politics in the 2019 Election: Projections and Effectiveness. CSIS Election Series No.1, 2018.
Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas. Voter Participation: 1955 – 2014. http://ditpolkom.bappenas.go.id/v2/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/6_Data-Participation-Pemilu-dan-Pilkada.pdf
Kompas.com, January 22 2020. Reflection on the 2019 Election, A total of 894 KPPS Officers Died. https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/01/22/15460191/releksi-pemilu-2019-sebanyak-894-pejaga-kpps-meninggal-dunia
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