The Regional Head Election By The DPRD Only Benefits Political Elite

The discourse on elections to the regions by the DPRD made by President Prabowo Subianto is referred to as an old idea since the era of President Joko Widodo who had received resistance and resistance from the community.

"So actually the discourse on returning the election to the DPRD has long been voiced by a number of elites, but it has failed continuously. Especially, for example, resistance from the public is very large. From the study we conducted, people who disagreed with the idea of removing the direct election were huge in the community," said SMRC researcher Saidiman Ahmad, Sunday, December 15, 2024.

According to him, the idea of the election being chosen by the DPRD is a form of phenomenon among political elites who are tired of competing between them. Thus, there is a desire for a settlement at the elite level like the hallmark of the New Order.

"This discourse is indeed typical of the elite and becomes stronger because there is a kind of enthusiasm for our elite to restore the New Order mindset, where the administration of the government is carried out at the elite level alone, the public is not given the opportunity. So it's an old mindset and benefits the main elite, so they show who the regional head candidate is," said Saidiman.

He emphasized that the discourse of regional heads being chosen by the DPRD was clearly detrimental, because the people could not directly determine or evaluate whether a regional head was good or not, including whether he was worthy or not to lead his area.

"So the evaluation depends on the elite. It will be very detrimental, because regional heads will not be able to work optimally considering that they must be re-elected is the orientation to please the elites above, the chairman of the party chairman," he said.

"Thus, I think the public interest will be number two, the main elite interest. So the orientation will change and will harm the community," added Saidiman.

He also rejected the assumption that the regional elections would immediately cause a waste of state finances. Because, through public control, corrupt practices, collusion, and nepotism in government can be monitored. In addition, the practice of money politics which is said to have occurred with direct elections is a wrong view. The reason is, the regional elections by the DPRD actually shift the money circulating only to the elite circle.

They will bribe party heads. "So far, it's money politics, but it's directly to the public. And what is the high cost of organizing the regional elections is usually due to the actions of their own parties. They use money politics, and so on. It means not the system, but the mindset of the party, "concluded Saidiman.