Oligarchy May Keeps Controlling Politics: Economist on Job Creation Perppu

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Senior economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef) Didin S Damanhuri predicted that economic oligarchy will increasingly control Indonesian politics in the next two years. This can be seen from a number of regulations that were passed outside the procedure, including the newly-enacted regulation in lieu of law or Perppu concerning job creation that is widely rejected by various parties.

“The oligarchy in this political year and after will increasingly work as a system. Oligarchy will thrive in an undemocratic political ecosystem,” said Didin in a virtual public discussion organized by Indef on Thursday, January 5, 2022.

Other regulations passed outside of procedures, he outlined, are the Coal and Mineral Mining Law, the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK Law, the Job Creation Law, the Constitutional Court or MK Law, the New Capital City or IKN Law, and the Harmonized Tax or HPP Law.

According to Didin, the main factor causing the growth of economic oligarchies in the country is allowing economic oligarchs to become political investors. Economic oligarchs are allowed to inject funds at all levels of general elections, starting from Regional Head Elections (Pilkada), Legislative Elections (Pileg), to Presidential Elections (Pilpres).

He explained that various studies revealed this oligarchy intervened in elections in various regions. There were even reports about a group contributing Rp9 trillion to a political party in a presidential election.

This economic and political oligarchy, Didin went on, had existed since the 1950s until the reform era. The embryo of this oligarchy was the rise of rent-seeking actors in both the economic and political fields. After obtaining huge profits, these rent-seekers carried out cartelization and mafia of goods and services including importation.

If Indonesia is committed to overcoming this problem, Didin opined that political and economic reforms are necessary. “Consequently, the Election Law, Political Law, and other laws must be amended, and the point is to prohibit donations to political parties,” he emphasized.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

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