Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
After a long-drawn-out process, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally announced his decision on 18 October to reshuffle the cabinet.
This will be the first and last major reshuffle in his second term as Indonesia’s president. Read more…
Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
At the centre of the current debate on reforming Indonesia’s electoral system is how to reduce the number of parties. Despite the broad agreement on its necessity, such a change will be difficult to achieve given the current political structure.
One of the most contentious issues in improving Indonesia’s electoral system is how the new electoral law can reduce the number of parties. Since the beginning of Reformasi, Indonesia has been dealing with a fragmented parliament and party system. Read more…
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
The newly formed cabinet under the leadership of the popularly elected Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has been dubbed a ‘return the favour’ cabinet (kabinet balas budi), a cabinet of political mates (kabinet perkoncoan), a rainbow cabinet (kabinet pelangi), and a power/cake sharing cabinet (kabinet bagi-bagi kekuasaan atau kue).
The idioms used to describe the new cabinet convey the three big concerns about the structure of the cabinet. Read more…
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
Quick counts show that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono won the election with a landslide with around 60 percent of support, followed by the Megawati Soekarnoputri-Prabowo Subianto pair with around 27 percent of votes, and Jusuf Kalla (JK)-Wiranto winning around 13 percent of votes.
Many have said that SBY’s achievements as president, his charisma, and his style, which are considered by many as presidential, are the key factors in explaining this landslide. However, we should not forget that the result of this election is also a function of the other two candidates.
Considering that the goal of JK and Mega was to make this election go to a second round, we can say that Mega’s team has done their job while JK’s has failed. The failure of JK and his team to get adequate support to push this presidential election into a second round is due to several factors.
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the incumbent and the front runner in the coming presidential election, has choosen Boediono, the current Central Bank Governor and a highly skilled economist, as his running mate.
Some question Boediono’s nationalism because of his close relationships with foreign donors and investors. Others question his ability to represent the aspirations of the Muslim majority.
However, no one questions his good fortune. Pairing with SBY makes him an almost certain choice as Indonesia’s vice president for the next 5 years.
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
If politics is truly the art of the impossible, in the last several days we have seen politics at its best in Indonesia. We have heard statements turned upside down. We have heard many promises made. We have seen political commitments broken. We have seen long time foes become friends, and long time friends become foes.
This political circus should not come as a surprise in this season of coalition building as the Indonesian presidential election approaches.
The acrobatic political manouevres show that the coalitions that will emerge in this next few days will be politically pragmatic in nature. Coalitions are established to fulfill at least three major political purposes. The first is to enable political parties to put forth a presidential candidate. The second is to consolidate and secure support to win the presidential election. The third is to secure support from the parliament for the elected president in the aftermath of the election.
Author: Sunny Tanuwidjaja, CSIS, Jakarta
The three democratic elections after the New Order era clearly attest to the changing political landscape in Indonesia. On the one hand, new parties continue to emerge. On the other hand, we observe the stagnation and steady decline of the old political parties, Golkar, Megawati’s PDI-P, and PPP, the most established Islamic party.
Take the 1999 election. The new parties, PKB (led by Gus Dur) and PAN (led by Amien Rais), were then the rising stars, garnering 19.7 per cent of the votes, and 18.3 per cent of the seats. In the 2004 election, it was another two new parties, PKS (the militant Islamic party) and the PD (established by SBY), who were on the rise. These two parties combined collected 14.7 per cent of the votes and 18.2 per cent of the seats.
The previous newcomers, PKB and PAN, stagnated. In 2009, the biggest surprise is the overwhelming rise of PD. Based on several quick counts and the official General Election Commission (KPU) count that is still in progress, PD will emerge as the largest party, garnering 20.5 per cent of the votes. Two other newcomers will also enter the parliament, and between them, Gerindra (established by Prabowo) and Hanura (formed by Wiranto), garner about 8 per cent of the vote.