Legacy looms large: Prabowo (left) and Gibran standing in front of a portrait of Jokowi at the General Elections Commission office in Jakarta. — AFP
ANOTHER controversial age-related court ruling in Indonesia has paved the way for another son of outgoing President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, to run in an election.
On May 30, the country’s Supreme Court decided in favour of a rule change on the minimum age of candidates in November’s regional head elections. Now, candidates have to be aged 30 only when they are inaugurated, rather than when their election bid is confirmed.
This opens the door for Jokowi’s 29-year-old son Kaesang Pangarep to run in the Jakarta elections, which the latter is said to have his eyes on. Kaesang turns 30 in December.
He is the younger brother of Vice-President-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who was able to run in the February presidential election after the Constitutional Court controversially allowed a change in the rules governing the minimum age of candidates in October 2023.
The Constitutional Court kept the minimum age for Indonesia’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates at 40, but ruled that this age limit does not apply to anyone who is an elected regional leader. Gibran, 36, is currently mayor of Solo city.
The May ruling initially reignited talk on, and criticism of, dynastic politics in Asean’s largest nation, where families tend to hold sway and entrench their power across generations.
But in the weeks since the ruling, the initial pushback has fizzled out. Newspaper headlines and television news bulletins have instead centred on the rising prices of basic necessities, updates about haj pilgrims and preparations for Jokowi’s handover to Prabowo Subianto in October.
Experts said that when it comes to families staying in power, many Indonesians – especially those in rural areas – believe it works and have no issues with it.
They add that when more pressing matters such as cost-of-living pressures or employment are all Indonesians can think about, whoever is in power in the archipelago does not matter as much to them.
“Most Indonesians are more focused on everyday issues than on dynastic politics. Family politics has always been a trend in Indonesia,” said Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at public policy advisory firm Global Counsel.
Besides Jokowi’s family, other families in power include that of Indonesia’s fifth president Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose father was its first president, Soekarno, and whose daughter Puan Maharani is the current Speaker of the House of Representatives.
There is also Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, son of immediate past president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He was a former military leader and is now serving as minister of agrarian affairs and spatial planning.
Given how regularly the formation of political dynasties had happened in the past, Dedi added that he does not expect strong public pushback against families staying in power, unless there is strong economic fallout.
Political culture in the archipelago is still very much coloured by feudal and aristocratic values that are steeped in societal hierarchies like the family, said Dr Irman G. Lanti of Padjadjaran University in Indonesia.
“This is especially true for rural poor voters, who are the majority of Indonesian voters,” said Irman, who is also a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
“In fact, kinship with a leader (who) is viewed as a successful one often becomes one of the qualities that these voters are looking for in the leaders.”
Almost all the big political parties in Indonesia are controlled by a single family, noted Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow at ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Examples he gave include the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) being controlled by Soekarno’s family, the Democratic Party by Susilo’s family, and the Gerindra party by the family of Defence Minister and President-elect Prabowo.
Indonesia is likely to see more families staying in power due to the “power of incumbency” that these influential families have, said Made, referring to how incumbents can plan arrangements to make it easier for their family to retain power.
Some have accused Jokowi for interfering in the recent presidential elections, including in the court ruling and when making highly publicised appearances with Prabowo during campaigning.
The presidential office has denied political meddling by Jokowi, but some Indonesians remain unconvinced.
“In essence, Prabowo-Gibran ran as incumbents in the last presidential election. Jokowi used all the power he had to influence voters to choose this pair,” said Made.
But despite some pushback on dynasty politics, ruling families continue to be accepted by the masses, observers said, citing Gibran’s thumping victory.
He and Prabowo received more than 60% of the vote during the Feb 14 presidential elections.
“Voters from the urban educated middle class are the ones who disdain this sort of practice,” said Irman.
“However, in terms of numbers, these voters are in the minority, which was evident from the results of this year’s presidential election.”
Experts said that the future of Indonesia’s leadership will largely remain family-based, with many of those in power at all levels being linked to political dynasties.
Studies have already begun to show this.
According to a recent study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, some 138 of the 580 legislators elected in February were connected by blood or affiliated in some other way to incumbent lawmakers.
Such a system stands to make politics in Indonesia uncompetitive and narrows the field for contestation, said Made, warning that it could hinder the emergence of capable leaders.
“Dynastic politics is a form of political monopoly which in the long term will eliminate competition and kill leadership talent and better governance,” he said. — The Straits Times/ANN
