Indonesian Twitter blasts lame-duck lawmakers for slashing democracy

JAKARTA, Indonesia — If Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was hoping for a grand exit after a decade in power, he certainly got it. But becoming the target of social media fury probably wasn’t what he had in mind.

Last week, the Indonesian parliament voted to abolish direct elections for local leaders, in this country of 250 million people.

This wouldn’t have happened if Yudhoyono’s party’s lawmakers hadn’t unexpectedly walked out of the session. The president himself was in New York at the time. With the critical vote imminent, he reportedly received a text about it, but balked at issuing instructions to his party.

Twitter users have blamed him for what vote experts say is a dramatic step back in Indonesia’s democratic process, taking the relatively young democracy back to the “old era,” as political analyst Djayadi Hanan says.

The #ShameonyouSBY hashtag quickly rose in global Twitter trends after last Friday’s vote, and was still trending days later. #RipDemokrasi was also an Indonesia hit over the weekend.

Direct elections for mayors and governors were first implemented here in 2005. They've been credited as a key step in Indonesia’s democratic transition — having made power accessible to a new generation of politicians.

The best example of this is Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the country’s president-elect. A former furniture seller, Jokowi is the first national leader to have no link with the old political elite.

Seen as breath of fresh on the political scene, he was elected mayor of his hometown Solo, governor of Jakarta, and finally president of Indonesia thanks to his “man of the people” image.

Jokowi, who’ll take office on October 20, said it himself on Saturday: “Without direct election, I wouldn't have been a mayor, governor, or president.”

More than 80 percent of Indonesians support direct elections for local leaders, a poll by the Indonesian Survey Circle recently showed.

Opponents to direct local elections say they are too costly and lead to corruption, but some experts believe the vote might just be a first taste of what Jokowi, who lacks majority in parliament, will have to deal with in the coming five years.

Djayadi Hanan calls the move “very, very political.”

He says former general Prabowo Subianto, who was defeated by Jokowi in the July presidential election, is “taking revenge” and showing Jokowi he can “block the incoming president in pursuing his agenda successfully.”

During the campaign, on several occasions Prabowo said he believed “Western ideas,” such as direct elections for regional and national leaders, “do not suit our culture.”

Djayadi Hanan adds that the move could also be a more general message to Jokowi and other young independent politicians. “This is an effort of political parties to strengthen their grip on power, starting at the local level.” Without direct elections, he says, “it would be very difficult for someone who’s not linked to political parties or doesn’t have close relationships with political parties’ bosses to run.”

Titi Anggraini, director of the Association for Elections and Democracy, contends “this is not about Jokowi, this is about people’s rights.” The decision, she says, is “against the spirit of reform and democracy, against the sovereignty of people,” and “steals our right to vote for our leadership.”

Yudhoyono, who had recently stated his support for direct elections, is the first president directly elected in Indonesian history. The Democratic Party was reportedly upset its amendments to the law on regional elections had been rejected.

Yudhoyono, also the chairman of his party, reacted to the public outcry by saying he was “disappointed” with the results of the vote. Democratic Party official Amir Syamsuddin said the president had ordered an inquiry to find out who had ordered the party’s lawmakers to walk out of the session, and had asked for the “hardest punishment” for those responsible.

Since returning to Indonesia this week, Yudhoyono has said he is working on a "plan B" to restore local elections. "Our interest is only that our democracy remains for our people,” he told reporters.

But another party official, lawmaker Ruhut Sitompul, has said the instruction came directly from the president, prompting many on social media to call Yudhoyono a “liar” and argue he deserved an Oscar for “best actor.” Pro-democracy groups have filed a judicial review at the constitutional court.