Indonesia is a secular country in the sense that its political policies are not necessarily derived from religious teachings and that it does not have a single state religion. Religion,
however, does play a very important role in Indonesian society.
Indonesian nationals are obliged to adhere to one of the religions that
have been selected by the government (Islam, Christianity, Catholicism,
Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism), while atheism is not an option.
Being the country that contains the largest Muslim population in the
world, Islamic principles do play an important role in the nation's
political decision making, but Indonesia is not a Muslim or Islamic
state. Political decentralization in the post-Suharto era
has brought more power to the regional governments and this development
implied that regional decision-making has been more affected by the
regional religious context. In strict Muslim areas, implemented policies
can include the regional banning of pork business or the obligation for
women to wear the headscarf, while in Christian regions (located mostly
in eastern Indonesia) such policies seem impossible to be implemented.
However, given the nation's clear Muslim majority and the dominance of
(Muslim) Java in national politics, Indonesia - as a whole - is far more
Islam oriented. To have a president that is non-Muslim, therefore,
seems impossible. On the other hand, Indonesian Islam can generally be
labelled 'moderate' as the majority of Indonesian Muslims consist of
nominal Muslims. For example, when Megawati Soekarnoputri became the
first female Indonesian president in 2001, only a small minority
rejected her based on certain Islamic doctrine that women cannot take
leading positions.
The Indonesian political system consists of three branches:
• Executive branch
• Legislative branch
• Judicial branch
• Executive branch
• Legislative branch
• Judicial branch
The executive branch
consists of the president, the vice president and the cabinet. Both the
president and vice president are chosen by the Indonesian electorate
through presidential elections. They serve for a term of five years that
can be extended once by another term of five years when re-elected by
the people. During these elections the president and vice president run
as a fixed, inseparable pair, which implies that the composition of this
pair is of great political strategic importance. Important matters that
are of influence include ethnic (and religious) background and
(previous) social position in Indonesian society. In terms of ethnicity and
religion, a Javanese Muslim will enjoy more popular support as the
majority of the Indonesian people consist of Javanese Muslims. In lower
political positions (and depending on the regional religious context)
political leaders that are non-Muslim are possible (for example, the
current vice governor of Jakarta is Chinese-Christian Basuki Cahaya Purnama).
With regard to (previous) social position in society there are a few
categories that all enjoy popular support from part of the people. These
categories include (retired) army generals, businessmen, technocrats
and leading Muslim scholars. Therefore, to optimize chances of winning
the election the president and vice president usually come from
different social categories in order to grasp a larger share of the
popular vote. For example, current president Yudhoyono (himself a
retired army general) chose Boediono (a Javanese Muslim technocrat) as
vice president in his presidential campaign of 2009. As Boediono is an
experienced economist, it raised people's trust in the pair. Despite
Indonesia's authoritarian past under Suharto,
army generals who run for president can still count on much popular
support in present Indonesia as they are considered being strong
leaders.
After
election, the new president appoints a cabinet that usually consists of
members from his own party, the coalition partners and non-partisan
technocrats. To see Indonesia's current cabinet composition, go here.
The legislative branch is the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, abbreviated MPR). It has the power to set or change the Constitution and appoints (or impeaches) the president. The MPR is a bicameral parliament that consists of the People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, abbreviated DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah,
abbreviated DPD). The DPR, consisting of 560 members, draws up and
passes laws, produces the annual budget in cooperation with the
president and oversees the general performance of political affairs. It
is elected for a five-year term through proportional representation
based on general elections. Remarkably, this DPR is notorious due to
the frequent occurrences of corruption scandals among its members. The
DPD deals with bills, laws and matters that are related to the regions,
thus increasing regional representation at the national level. Every
Indonesian province elects four members to the DPD (who serve for a
five-year term) on non-partisan basis. As Indonesia contains 33
provinces, the DPD consists of a total of 132 members.
The highest court in Indonesia's judiciary system is the independent Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung). It is the final court of appeal and also deals with disputes between lower courts. A new court, established in 2003, is the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi), which monitors whether decisions made by the cabinet and parliament (MPR) are in line with the Indonesian Constitution.
Most of the legal cases, however, are dealt with by the public courts,
administrative courts, religious courts and military courts. A Judicial Commission (Komisi Yudisial)
oversees the maintenance of honour, dignity and behaviour of
Indonesian judges. There are frequent reports that Indonesia's
judiciary institutions are not free from corruption and are not fully
independent from the other political branches.
0 Response to "Ikhtisar Struktur Politik Indonesia"
Post a Comment