There Is No Reason To Leave The Proportional Open In The 2024 General Election, PAN: Money Politics Is More Hazardy If It Is Closed

JAKARTA - The chairman of the PAN faction of the DPR RI, Saleh Partaonan Daulay, emphasized that the majority of political parties (political parties) still want an open proportionality system in the 2024 General Election. Likewise the community. According to Saleh, these opinions are aspirations that need to be heard by constitutional judges.

"The election belongs to the community, the participants are also members of the community who are members of an organization called a political party. The entire implementation should be in accordance with the expectations of the majority of the people," Saleh told reporters, Tuesday, January 3.

Saleh ensured, in an open proportional system, the political participation of the community was wider because they could be involved in all stages of holding elections. Including supporting and nominating members of the community who are considered worthy and qualified. Most importantly, said Saleh, the public can directly determine who the best legislative candidates are according to them.

"Democracy is essentially participation and openness. The higher public participation, the better quality. On the other hand, democracy will resign if public involvement is marginalized. Moreover, the determination of candidates for representatives of the people is carried out in a closed and concentrated manner within the internal scope of political parties," he explained.

The member of Commission IX of the DPR said that the open proportionality system might be considered imperfect. According to him, this is natural, but that does not mean that the system is replaced with a more imperfect one. Instead, said Saleh, his imperfections need to be completed and improved.

"He said open proportionality systems would open up opportunities for money politics. If that's true, that doesn't mean the system is wrong. However, it is legal monitoring and enforcement instruments that need to be improved," he stressed.

"Our election organizers are complete. There are KPU and Bawaslu. The network is complete up to the TPS level. Supposedly, this can be strengthened to carry out surveillance. I am sure that can be done. Moreover, our election supervisors are not alone. So far, they have also collaborated with law enforcement officials and NGO election monitoring," added the legislator for the North Sumatra electoral district.

Saleh said that money politics can actually not only occur in open proportionality systems. Even in a closed proportionality system, according to him, it is very possible to even happen in the circle of political parties and in society.

"Calegs automatically hunt serial numbers. There must be contestation within the party. At this point, there is an opportunity for money politics to the party elite to get a good number. Money politics is more dangerous in my opinion. It is closed and invisible. Only certain people have access," said Saleh.

"Not only that, it will be during the election, those who get a good serial number can still get money politics in the community. Even though the campaign is to choose a party, there is always an opportunity to commit violations," he added.

The point, added Saleh, is that all of them have political awareness, so the practice of money politics can be avoided. Therefore, it must continue to be socialized in the community. Because, Saleh assessed, no matter how much money is owned by the legislative candidate, if the community does not want it, it will still not be able to pay the people's voice. Moreover, according to him, this awareness is supported by good surveillance devices.

"Besides, the Indonesian election has often received praise from abroad. We have carried out the presidential, legislative and regional elections thousands of times. Everything has worked well. As for the knick-knacks, they can be completed through legal channels," he concluded.

Previously, the Chairman of the General Election Commission (KPU) Hasyim Asy'ari, talked about the possibility that the 2024 General Election or Election system would return to using a closed proportional system. He said the system was being discussed through the Constitutional Court (MK) trial.

However, Hasyim explained, it was only an assumption based on the existence of a lawsuit at the Constitutional Court regarding the current electoral law. So it is not a proposal from the KPU but from the current electoral factual conditions.

"So maybe prospective election participants can get ready and follow developments if the Court grants the lawsuit," he said during the KPU Year End Note event at the KPU office, Menteng, Central Jakarta, Thursday, December 29, 2022.