Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih speaking at the studium generale of the Law Faculty of the Islamic University of Malang, Friday (6/3/2021). Photo by Humas MK/Yok Banu.

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Friday, June 3, 2022 | 14:48 WIB

JAKARTA, Public Relations—Constitutional Justice Enny Nurbaningsih spoke at the studium generale of the Law Faculty of the Islamic University of Malang (FH Unisma) on “The Problems in Appointing Acting Heads of Regions in the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Election” on Friday, June 3, 2022.

She explained the mechanism for filling in the vacancies of regional leaders across history. In the past since the independence, she revealed, it was done through appointment, not through a democratic election.

“[This had not changed] until the early days of the Reform, [when] we were experiencing a fluctuation to determine which one was the most appropriate for filling the positions of heads of regions. We can see this in 1974 when the earliest Law No. 5 of 1974 was used. Usually, the filling, following the existing provisions, was through appointment,” she said.

This mechanism, Justice Enny explained, was because the candidates were endorsed by DPRD (Regional Legislative Council) factions but they could not determine the definitive candidates.

“All of that was determined in stages up to a higher level, the Minister of Home Affairs, in order to carry out the mandate from the president, to the governor as a representative of the central government from the regions. Endorsement may be submitted by the DPRD, but the determination was carried out by the central government,” she explained.

This reflected a heavily-centralized regional government system, Justice Enny added. There was no room for democracy. Even the election organizers at that time were not like the current KPU (General Elections Commission).

“The KPU was not an independent one as it is now. In fact, the KPU was part of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The KPU at that time was more concerned with administrative actions than substantive ones. In our election at that time, there was no need for a quick count. If we look at the history, there were no results, the election victors were predictable,” she said. Justice Enny also explained that most of those who filled the vacancies as governors, regents, and mayors had been former military commanders or military personnel. 

Reform Era

Entering the Reform era, Justice Enny added, there had been a demand to strengthen democratic mechanisms in the state administration. Then Law No. 22 of 1999 on the Regional Government was formed. It stipulated that the filling of vacancies of heads or regions was determined by the DPRD, starting from endorsing candidates to determining who would become the definitive regional heads. However, this also created problems because localized compromises cannot be avoided, leading to strong political polarization within the regional parliament.

“In addition, the regional heads’ accountability to the DPRD also raised many issues because annual accountability, accountability in certain circumstances, accountability at the end of the fiscal year, was also full of extraordinary compromises,” she explained.

That, Justice Enny added, gave rise to challenges. When the nation successfully carried out the first direct presidential election, an idea emerged that the regional head election be conducted directly. The goal, she said, was to reduce compromises. However, when the first direct regional election was held, regional division worsened due to the compromises. 

Regional Election Design

Currently, the filling of regional head vacancies in Indonesia is carried out directly. This requires the extraordinary role of the KPU and Bawaslu (Elections Supervisory Body) to ensure it be run democratically. After all, the Constitutional Court has it be carried out democratically.

The democratic election design is mandated by Article 18 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution, which reads, “Governors, District Heads, and Mayors as the heads of provincial, district, and municipal administrations shall be elected democratically.”

The Constitutional Court provided an interpretation to the democratic election in Decision No. 072-073/PUU-11/2004: “… The Court is of the opinion that it is the legislature’s authority to implement the provisions in direct election or other democratic methods. Because the 1945 Constitution has established democratic elections, both direct elections and other methods must be guided by general election principles.”

Writer       : Nano Tresna Arfana
Editor        : Nur R.
Translator : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Translation uploaded on 6/6/2021 14:52 WIB

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian version, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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