Order in the presidential election

The New Order (Orba) reappeared in the 2019 Presidential Election. Not only marked by the presence of the Berkarya party led by Tommy Suharto, but also marked by the campaign of successful achievements during the New Order, such as food self-sufficiency. These achievements are considered to occur again if Presidential Candidate Prabowo Subianto is elected president. The discourse that was rolled out seemed to provide a warning that the public had forgotten that the New Order referred to an authoritarian system of power. Therefore, the re-emergence of the New Order needs to be addressed carefully. So, what is the future of Indonesian democracy with the emergence of New Order elements in the form of political parties and their support for one of the candidate pairs?

To discuss the issue, the 2019 Election edition of the Populi Forum on Thursday (6/12) raised the theme "Orba in the Presidential Election". The speakers present this time were Prof. Hermawan Sulistyo (LIPI Principal Researcher) and Sunanto (General Chairperson of Muhammadiyah Youth).

Hermawan said the situation or environment of the New Order still occurs today. It cannot be said that when Soeharto fell in 1998 and the reform era began, the New Order ended. According to him, what happened was only a change of president. However, the entire cabinet that filled it were the same people from the New Order.

Therefore, Hermawan sees, if at this time the New Order is reproduced as a campaign theme, it is a natural thing. Because, this regime has never changed and is still in power. "So if it is reproduced as a campaign theme like now, it is natural because it has never changed," he said.

Next, he explained the advantages and disadvantages of the New Order that entered the current political struggle. First, the advantage of the New Order was gathering support from people who in the previous period followed the New Order regime. In this context, if in the 1998 era he was a businessman, he would have entered the cartel (New Order). Meanwhile, if he was previously a politician or official, he would have (his character) carried out oppression.

Second, the advantage of the New Order is that they can collect money. Hermawan admitted that no family or crony can pocket as much money as they have. This condition can be seen from the amount of tax paid by Tommy Soeharto by participating in the tax amnesty program in 2016. From there, the public can estimate the amount of Tommy Soeharto's wealth. On the other hand, the loss that was obtained when the New Order followed the presidential election constellation was a corrupt mentality like the legislative figures who were caught by the KPK. "The two most serious sins of the New Order were human rights violations and economic robbery. This is what needs to be avoided," he said.

On the other hand, Sunanto explained that three characteristics of the New Order that need to be eliminated are power cartels, Corruption, Collusion, Nepotism (KKN), and Authoritarianism. If these three characteristics still exist, then we cannot be said to have experienced reform. Related to the 2019 Presidential Election contest, he saw that the characteristics of the New Order still exist in these two camps. If in one camp, the characteristics of the New Order are seen in the developmentalist policies made, in the other camp there are biological elements of the New Order that are inherent in its family nature. "It's just a different perspective. It can't be said that one is the New Order and the other is not the New Order," explained Sunanto.