Opinion | As Indonesia mulls a move away from direct presidential elections, is dynastic politics here to stay?
- President Joko Widodo is part of a new crop of Indonesian politicians elected without a famous family name or political links
- But the country’s political elite, including former president Megawati, are proposing changes to the way the president is elected
The election of President Joko Widodo in 2014 has often been described as a watershed moment in Indonesian political history.
Born outside the country’s political elite, Jokowi, as he is commonly known, represents a new breed of politicians who have risen to prominence without the benefit of a famous family name or being related to a figure of influence. Others in this category are Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, previously a career civil servant, and West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil, who was an architect and mayor of Bandung before becoming governor.
So does this new crop of politicians represent a shift in a country where elite families traditionally control access to power and wealth, and is dynastic politics on its way out in Indonesia? For the moment, the answer appears to be a resounding no.
This is especially apparent after a recent proposal to amend the 1945 Constitution to restore full power to the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), a parliamentary chamber encompassing members of the House of Representatives plus representatives of groups in society, including the military. This could give the MPR a greater mandate than the president, and could once again give it the authority to appoint a president through an internal election, ending the current system of having the president directly elected by the people.
While Jokowi has indicated his opposition to the move, arguing that citizens should have the right to appoint their leader directly, one of the prominent politicians who has flouted this proposal is his chief political patron, Megawati Sukarnoputri – a former president and the eldest daughter of the country’s first president Sukarno.
Megawati has been at the helm of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) since its foundation in 1999 and was last month re-elected “by acclamation” for another five years. She urged members at the party congress to commit to reinstating the earlier system.