Universitas Djuanda

TALKING about democracy means talking about how people’s sovereignty is implemented. Democracy that I mean is constitutional democracy, as stated in Article 1(2) of the 1945 Constitution that “Sovereignty is in the hands of the people and is implemented according to this Constitution.”

On June 14, 2022, we have entered the electoral stages for the 2024 concurrent elections. “Election” that I mean is general election and seen as a tool for implementing people’s sovereignty as stated in Article 1(1) of Law Number 7/2017 on General Election. Article 22E(1) of the 1945 Constitution states that “General elections shall be conducted in a direct, general, free, secret, honest, and fair manner once every five years.” Sovereignty is expressed by people to go to the polling stations to vote for parties, legislative candidates, or presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, “concurrent” in elections means that legislative and executive elections are simulatenously conducted at the same time. For the 2024 concurrent elections, we will conduct at Wednesday, February 14, 2024. Article 22E(2) of the 1945 Constitution states that “General elections shall be conducted to elect the members of the People's Representative Council (DPR), the Regional Representative Council (DPD), the President and Vice-President, and the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD).”

FOR some time now, some political elites have expressed their opinions contrary to the 1945 Constitution. Based on their opinions, I mean that they slip constitutional democracy. There are at least three factors that indicate the slipping condition.

The first of all is the wills of political elites to slip democracy back to the political practices before the amendments of the 1945 Constitution. There are some indicators dealing with the wills of political elites, e.g. the extension of President’s tenure (term of office) for three terms, election postponement, the re-entering of armed forces/soldiers into bureaucracy, back to indirect democracy, and re-centralization of authorities in regional autonomy.

The second is the design and performance of democratic institutions that tend to strengthen the rule of oligarchy. There are some indicators that cover the condition, e.g. limitations of political parties as participants in general elections, parliamentary and presidential thresholds, and omnibus law on job creation. The ruling coalition in DPR impacts politically (seven parties: 471 seats, 81.91%) and economically (318 members of businessmen, 55.30%) on implementing legislation function of DPR that tends to the oligarchic rule making.

The third, for the last, is the political culture. On the grassroots, there are still apathetic people that have subject culture, namely people that only enjoy the political results without actively participating in political process. People only wait the policy of the rulers or policy holders. Whereas the people’s awareness is needed to reject the wills of political elites that slip constitutional democracy. The more the political elites push their wills, the higher the people’s awareness will be to reject the ideas.

THEREFORE, the presence of the factors indicate that the political elites slip the constitutional democracy. Surely, I hope that the indications are only slipping but not to be actualized.

By

Drs. Gotfridus Goris Seran, M.Si

Lecturer in Political Science and Indonesian Political System,

Faculty of Social, Political and Computer Sciences,

Djuanda University Bogor