TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - In the six years of Jokowi's administration, the scope for public participation has been reduced. It is too soon for him to establish a dynasty.
PRESIDENT Joko Widodo seems to have been struck by the "curse of the second term." In the first year of his second term, in the eyes of political experts and the international media, Indonesian democracy continued to experience a decline. In the middle of the pandemic, opposition from students, laborers and civil society groups towards the government increased.
Political experts in the United States often use the expression "second-term curse" to point out that the second term of a president is less successful, colored by major scandals, or marked by disasters. Of course, this 'curse' is not to be taken literally. What does happen is that in the second term there is a tendency for presidents to be busier safeguarding themselves and the future of their families rather than paying attention to the interests of the wider public. The pressure to seek safety sometimes results in a president being dragged into the scandal at the end of his or her administration.
So far, there are no indications that Jokowi is involved in any scandals. The indication that has appeared is that before his term ends in 2024, Jokowi has pushed his son Gibran Rakabuming Raka and his son-in-law Bobby Nasution to stand for election for mayor of Solo and Medan respectively. Jokowi seems impatient to establish a political dynasty before he leaves the Palace.
Jokowi's government is increasingly insensitive to the aspirations of the people. The room for public participation has been reduced. Waves of demonstrations by students, laborers and civil groups in the last few weeks have occurred because Jokowi has not listened enough to the demands of those opposing the Job Creation Law. Since the omnibus bill was drawn up, Jokowi has listened more to the voices of businesspeople who want investment to be easier but who do not want to take responsibility for the welfare of their workers or for environmental conservation.
After six years in power, Jokowi is also increasingly showing contradictions. In the 2014 presidential election, he won on a ticket as a leader who came from the people, was free of corruption, and was a hard worker. With his unannounced meetings with potential voters, Jokowi broke free of the political elite in Jakarta. However, slowly but surely his positive image began to be eroded when he made a number of political compromises with the oligarchies around him. One very apparent political compromise was when Jokowi included more party members in his cabinet than people with professional backgrounds.
Jokowi won reelection in 2019, but this was not because of perfect performance in his first five years. Rather it was because his opponent was the same person: Prabowo Subianto.
Claiming to have the background of an 'ordinary' person, Jokowi became stronger at the peak of the political elite pyramid. He embraced almost all political opponents and turned them into supporters. In the House of Representatives, there is virtually no balancing force to monitor the President's use of his authority. Meanwhile, outside the legislative building, Jokowi has also co-opted activists -- who have proved to have failed their own promise to "monitor power from within."
Another gloomy aspect of Jokowi's second term is that critical voices have increasingly been muzzled. The security forces are more and more acting arbitrarily in criminalizing those who disagree with the government. At the same time, Jokowi has tended to remain quiet when legal action is taken against those seen as insulting the president.
Now it is not only the oligarchies that should be blamed. Jokowi too must take responsibility for the decline of Indonesian democracy.
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