The revision of the Election Law must prioritize the objective needs of Indonesian democracy.

Illustration of the revision of the Election Law. (Ist)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Institute, Center for Public Policy Research (TII), Arfianto Purbolaksono urges that the plan to revise Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections (Election Law) must be directed to strengthen political party reform as well as improve the quality of democracy.

"Don't let the revision of the Electoral Law become an arena for compromising the interests of political parties. The revision of the Electoral Law has never been in a vacuum. It has always been an arena for contesting the interests of dominant political parties in legislation," he said in a written statement, Sunday, April 19.

According to Arfianto, this condition opens the opportunity for "policy capture", namely when public policies reflect the interests of certain groups rather than the interests of the wider community. As a result, the substance of the revision of the Electoral Law has the potential to deviate from the original goal, namely strengthening the democratic system.

He said a number of crucial issues that often become the object of political compromise, ranging from the electoral system, the parliamentary threshold, the size of the electoral district, to the design of the synchronization of elections. "Often decisions are made not based on the objective needs of democracy, but on calculations of who benefits and who is harmed," he added.

He gave an example of the previous revision of the Election Law, which was considered not to have provided significant improvements to the quality of the implementation of elections. Therefore, the revision of the Election Law in the future must really be in the public interest, not just the short-term interests of political parties.

Previously, member of Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Muhammad Khozin revealed that the revision of the Election Law would likely be discussed next week. He added, Commission II of the Indonesian House of Representatives has since the beginning opened up space for participation for the public to participate in the discussion of the revision of the Election Law.

The politician from the PKB Faction said that several times his party had held a Public Hearing (RDPU) by inviting academics and civil society groups to submit input on the revision of the Election Law.

"I think the schedule for discussing the draft Election Bill will be carried out immediately before the DPR recess. Commission II will hear a presentation from the BKD (DPR Expertise Agency) about the Election Bill," said Khozin.