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Indonesia - Politics

Unsuccessful rebellions on Sumatra, Sulawesi, West Java, and other islands beginning in 1958, plus a failure by the constituent assembly to develop a new constitution, weakened Indonesia's parliamentary system. From 1959 to 1965, President Sukarno imposed an authoritarian regime under the label of "Guided Democracy." Although he remained President, in March 1966, Sukarno transferred key political and military powers to General Suharto, who by that time had become head of the armed forces. In March 1967, the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) named General Suharto acting President. President Suharto proclaimed a "New Order" in Indonesian politics.

At the end of 1997 Indonesia plunged into a very deep financial crisis. This crisis very quickly snow balling into economics and the political crisis nation wide. The resulting turmoil brought the down fall of the Soeharto’s government six month later. Amid widespread civil unrest, Suharto resigned on May 21, 1998, and Suharto's hand-picked Vice President, B.J. Habibie, became Indonesia's third President. The ever growing multi dimensional crisis set the scene for Indonesia's first elections in the post-Suharto period, held for the national, provincial, and sub-provincial parliaments on June 7, 1999. Forty-eight political parties participated in the elections. For the national parliament, Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by Megawati Sukarnoputri) won 34% of the vote; Golkar ("Functional Groups" party) 22%; Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB, National Awakening Party, linked to the moderate Islamic organization Nadhlatul Ulama headed by former President Abdurrahman Wahid) 13%; and the conservative Islamic Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP, United Development Party, led by Hamzah Haz) 11%. The MPR selected Abdurrahman Wahid as Indonesia's fourth President in November 1999 and replaced him with Megawati Sukarnoputri in July 2001.

The first direct presidential election was held on July 5, 2004, contested by five tickets. As no candidate won at least 50% of the vote, a runoff election was held on September 20, 2004, between the top two candidates, President Megawati Sukarnoputri and retired General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In this final round, Yudhoyono won 60.6% of the vote. Approximately 76.6% of the eligible voters participated, a total of roughly 117 million people, making Indonesia's presidential election the largest single-day election in the world. The Carter Center, which sent a delegation of election observers, issued a statement congratulating "the people and leaders of Indonesia for the successful conduct of the presidential election and the peaceful atmosphere that has prevailed throughout the ongoing democratic transition."

President Yudhoyono emerged from the elections with a mandate from the Indonesian people. President Yudhoyono placed priority on economic growth and poverty reduction, recognizing that Indonesia had recovered from the 1997-1998 financial and economic crisis. The Government of Indonesia announced an ambitious reform program, boosted investor confidence, attacked corruption and made a push for infrastructure development. President Yudhoyono remains committed to this program. Real GDP growth increased to 5.1 percent in 2004, and the Indonesian economy has been resilient in spite of the tsunami, avian influenza, polio, and high world oil prices.

In July 2009 President Yudhoyono was reelected overwhelmingly in generally free and fair elections. To win in one round, a presidential candidate was required to receive more than 50% of the vote and more than 20% of the vote in 17 of Indonesia’s 33 provinces. If no candidate did so, the top two candidates would have competed in a second round in September 2009. Three tickets competed in the presidential elections. Incumbent President Yudhoyono and his running mate, non-partisan former Central Bank Chair and Economics Minister Boediono, won the election with such a significant plurality--60.6%--that it obviated the need for a second round of elections. Main challenger and former president and opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and running mate Prabowo Subianto trailed with 28%. Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and running mate Wiranto came in last at 12.7%. Indonesia’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) inaugurated President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his second term as president on October 20, 2009.

During 2010 there were 244 regional elections scheduled; there were also elections for seven governors and 237 mayors/regents. In August, of 57 candidates not identified with a political party, only one was victorious, in the district of Sidoarjo, East Java. During 2010 the Constitutional Court received 230 requests to adjudicate election disputes. Of these, 224 were decided, with 26 rulings in favor of complainants. As a result of the decisions, there were election reruns in Surabaya, Manado, and Merauke. In addition, the court called for election reruns in Mandailing Natal and in South Tangerang City. At year's end six cases were pending.

In a few isolated cases, local elections led to civil disturbances. For example, on 21 May 2010, supporters of a candidate disqualified because he had not passed a required medical examination rioted in Mojokerto, East Java. The rioters attacked official buildings and burned dozens of official cars. Thirteen persons were injured. Despite this incident, the 07 June 2010 election went smoothly. In other cases, on 01 June 2010, supporters of a disqualified candidate for regent burned ballots and ballot boxes in seven district offices in Toli-Toli, Central Sulawesi. On 08 June 2010, approximately 400 supporters of a losing candidate clashed with police personnel and threw stones at the election commission office in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara. The crowd also destroyed a political party's office and burned a car. Clashes broke out again on 14 June 2010, injuring dozens of persons.

In South Sulawesi, on 23 June 2010, thousands of persons threw stones and destroyed the election commission office in Tana Toraja, claiming the election commission was not neutral. They also burned ballot papers, burned cars, and destroyed four district offices, the speaker of the local parliament's residence, the election monitoring board's office, and the Golkar office. On June 26, thousands of supporters of six losing candidates rioted in Soppeng. They burned the election commission's office, burned dozens of ballot boxes, and destroyed four district offices. Also on 26 June 2010, an unidentified group of people threw Molotov cocktails at the Tanralili district office in Maros following local elections in this regency. A clash also broke out on the same day between supporters of two candidates in Gowa. No casualties were reported in this clash.

There are no legal restrictions on the role of women in politics. A law on political parties mandated that women make up 30 percent of the founding members of a new political party. An election law, which included a nonbinding clause for parties to select women for at least 30 percent of the candidate slots on their party lists, ensured parties put forward more women candidates. The Constitutional Court invalidated this clause when it struck down the law and ruled voters for the first time could directly elect their representatives, regardless of their position on party lists. The number of women in parliament increased significantly, from 11 percent to 18 percent of the DPR seats in the April 2009 elections. During the year women held five of 37 cabinet-level positions.

At the provincial level, by 2010 there was one female governor and one vice governor. Women held disproportionately few leadership positions in local government in some provinces; for example, in Aceh the highest position held by a woman was that of deputy mayor, in the city of Banda Aceh. Women played an increasingly important political role in East Java. The number of female members of the Surabaya city parliament increased from four in the previous parliament to 15, or 30 percent of the total. In the East Java provincial parliament, the female members of parliament increased from 16 percent to 19 percent of the total. More women also became regents and mayors in East Java, such as the regent of Tuban, the regent of Banyuwangi, and the Surabaya mayor.

With the exception of Aceh Province, where non-Muslims were effectively blocked from political office by a requirement that all candidates must demonstrate their ability to read the Qur'an in Arabic, there were no legal restrictions on the role of minorities in politics. There were no official statistics on the ethnic backgrounds of legislators in the DPR. President Yudhoyono's cabinet consisted of a plurality of Javanese, with others being of Sundanese, Bugis, Batak, Acehnese, Papuan, Balinese, and Chinese heritage.

From 2004 to 2014, presidential elections were held three months after parliamentary elections. The results of the parliamentary elections determined which parties could put up candidates for the presidential election. In 2013, the Coalition of Civil Society for Simultaneous Elections challenged the electoral law and filed a judicial review petition with the Constitutional Court. The Coalition said simultaneous elections would improve voter turnout, save money and strengthen the country’s presidential system. In January 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the petitioners and ordered simultaneous elections as of 2019. Presidential candidates still need the support of parties commanding at least 20% of seats in the outgoing House of Representatives or those which had secured 25% of the votes in the previous parliamentary elections.

Although the Papua Special Autonomy Law permits flying a flag symbolizing Papua’s cultural identity, a government regulation prohibits the display of the Morning Star flag in Papua, the Republic of South Moluccas (RMS) flag in Maluku, and the Free Aceh Movement Crescent Moon flag in Aceh. There were no reported new arrests related to the display of the RMS flag or the Free Aceh Movement flag in 2012. However, police continued to imprison individuals for raising the Morning Star flag in Papua. According to reliable NGOs, between June and September 2012, authorities arrested more than 60 people in Papua for flag-related offenses. Police held most of them for one to three days before releasing them.

Individuals and organizations have the right to criticize the government publicly and privately and could discuss almost all matters of public interest without reprisal. The law criminalizes content that advocates separatism. Some NGOs and other organizations alleged government monitoring of their organizations, and government application of treason laws in cases of peaceful calls for separatism in Papua limited the rights of individuals to engage in speech deemed to be proseparatist.