Student pressure helps to thwart political ‘manoeuvring’

Universities and academic communities in Indonesia are proving to be effective in influencing government policies and thwarting ‘manoeuvrings’ by political groups, according to analysts and civil society groups, after student-led protests produced a climbdown by the government over attempts to change election-related rules ahead of November’s regional elections.

On 22 August tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated against what they saw as manoeuvring by current President Joko Widodo aimed at maintaining power by attempting to overturn Constitutional Court rulings.

Indonesia will have a new president on 22 October with president-elect Prabowo Subianto succeeding Joko Widodo. However, as ‘Jokowi’, as Widodo is commonly known, nears the end of his presidential term, political analysts and observers have pointed to his efforts to extend power through his sons and political cronies.

Head of the Universitas Indonesia Student Executive Body, Ferrel Uzier, told University World News students could “smell a foul trick” by Jokowi to stay in power.

“He has been in office for two presidential terms. He cannot proceed for a third term due to the constitutional limitation, but he is trying to stay in power through his political allies; unfortunately, at the expense of the constitution,” Uzier said.

Attempt to annul court ruling

Attempts to defy Indonesia’s Constitutional Court sparked student rallies on campuses and street protests in many cities which began on 22 August, continuing for days after, although campuses have been calm this month.

The trigger was an aborted effort in parliament to annul a Constitutional Court decision on the number of votes needed for political parties or coalitions of parties to nominate candidates for regional elections, and on the minimum age for regional administrative heads.

On 20 August Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled the minimum age for candidates to head regional administrations should be kept at 30, eliminating the chance for Jokowi’s son Kaesang Pangarep – currently 29 years old – to run in upcoming regional elections for Jakarta governor.

Indonesia is holding regional elections in November to select governors, mayors, and local legislative members in 37 provinces and 508 regencies (districts) and cities.

Widodo’s eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the incoming vice-president, ran alongside Prabowo in the presidential elections in February, the results of which were declared in March this year.

The court also ruled against a proposal by Jokowi’s party and others to reduce the proportion of the popular vote required for political parties to be eligible to propose regional candidates to the Election Committee from 20% to 4%.

The court’s latest ruling still enables parties who do not have seats in the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat) to jointly propose regional leadership candidates. The parties of president-elect Subianto and Jokowi have put together a broad coalition in order to pass the thresholds for the regional elections.

In a move that appeared to support Jokowi, the House of Representatives on 21 August – a day after the court ruling – held a hearing to prepare the way for a general meeting to annul the court’s decision.

But the legislators’ move triggered a strong reaction on campuses, with the protests being joined by ordinary citizens angered by the government’s economic policies and youth unemployment, which makes young people particularly sensitive to the concept of political dynasties.

Crossing a ‘constitutional line’

The Constitutional and Administrative Law Society (CALS) said in a statement on 21 August the move by the House of Representatives had “crossed a constitutional line” and the government should “accept the court ruling and start implementing it”.

The CALS reaction was followed by student rallies in Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Makassar, Banjarmasin and other major cities, with demonstrations taking place in front of the House of Representatives building in Jakarta.

The protest in Jakarta involved students, lecturers, activists, celebrities, community members, with some preparing to tear down the gates to the building. Tear gas and water cannons were used to disperse protesters, and some 300 were detained by police.

Arga Luthfi, rally coordinator at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, told University World News: “We demand all parties abide by the Constitutional Court decision. We will continue to ensure that democracy is upheld in this country.”

Luthfi added students would not let “Jokowi’s political dynasty” rule the country.

Bivitri Susanti, a lecturer at the Indonesia Jentera School of Law in Jakarta and chairperson of CALS, noted: “Today, we encounter various political issues. But whatever the issues are, I see the face of Jokowi.

“He is building a dynasty which he has been doing fine for the last five years. But not this time,” Susanti added.

Yance Arizona, a constitutional law lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta is reported as saying in an article on a Universitas Gadjah Madas webpage that the strength of the August demonstrations was “an accumulation of previous protests related to the non-democratic, non-participatory, and non-transparent governance practices”.

He was referring to previous attempts by Jokowi to change rules governing the age of electoral candidates to allow his sons to participate in elections, which also sparked protests by academics and students.

‘Checks and balances’

The day after the 21 August protests, the House of Representatives announced the deliberations on the Constitution Court would be dropped due to an insufficient number of attendees.

“The House meeting decided that the review of regional election regulations cannot be carried out,” Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, told a press conference on 22 August.

Widodo himself has downplayed the constitutional dispute, saying the tussle over amendments were part of the “checks and balances” of government, as has been reported in the media.

However, Susanti claimed the House climbdown was a victory for civil society. “When scepticism and helplessness loom large in the community, knowing that our demand has been met is a blessing,” Susanti told University World News.

“This is also evidence that the university is still an effective force to keep government upright and prevent it from abusing power,” she added.

But she warned: “The political game is not over yet. To ensure the House decision is not merely to pacify [protesters] I keep telling my friends and colleagues to be watchful and critical of political manoeuvring.”

CALS and other academic partners would guard democracy “against any return to tyranny”, she stressed.

Trust in universities

Arizona noted that public trust in the democratic process has declined in Indonesia, even after the proposed revision of the Regional Election Law was cancelled in the wake of the student-led demonstrations.

Arizona viewed it as a small victory amidst the larger struggle to defend Indonesia’s democratic system.

“All levels of society are encouraged to continue to increase their awareness of the political process and to safeguard it,” he is quoted as saying.

Asep Saeful Muhtadi, a professor of new media and communication studies at the State Islamic University of Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, told University World News many people now trusted universities more than the government.

“People see there are almost no institutions that are not free from power pressure, [so] they turn to universities, despite the fact that some lecturers, professors and university officials bow to government pressure for [their own] safety,” he told University World News.

Universities can be guardians of democracy as long as campus communities are independent and objective, he said. “By their nature, universities and their communities are independent and non-partisan,” he noted./universityworldnews.com