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Posted by Cimics on February 1st, 2021

Understanding Indonesia’s Political System
Indonesia is a unitary state in the form of a republic which means that sovereignty is in the hands of the people. Indonesia adheres to a presidential system of government, where the president is the head of state as well as the head of government.

Indonesia applies a decentralized, not centralized, government system. This gives privileges and rights to regions to be more independent in managing their territories.

Political decentralization in Indonesia has given more power to local governance. This system is implicit in regional political decision-making which is increasingly influenced by certain religious & cultural values. For example, political policies in predominantly Muslim areas usually have strict regulations regarding pork or alcohol distribution. This is different from areas where the majority of the population in Eastern Indonesia is Christian or on Bali, where the majority of the population is Hindu.

Included in the executive branch are the president, vice president and cabinet. The Indonesian electorate elects both the president and vice president in presidential elections held every 5 years. The president and vice president serve for five years and thereafter can be re-elected to the same office for one more term (hence a total of 10 years).

Ethnicity and religion have influence if someone wants to become president and vice president in Indonesia. A Muslim will get more popular support because the majority of Indonesia’s population is Muslim. There has never been a president and vice president of Indonesia who came from outside the Islamic religion. But for political positions at a lower level, political leaders who are not Muslim are still possible.

There are several categories of ideal presidential and vice-presidential candidates for most Indonesians: (retired) military officials, businessmen, technocrats and Muslim intellectual leaders. Therefore, most of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates’ strategies always involve this kind of consideration in their campaigns because their chances of winning are higher. For example, President Joko Widodo chose Ma’ruf Amin (who is a Muslim intellectual) as his vice president.

Included in the legislature is the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat/MPR). The MPR has the authority to draft or amend the Constitution and inaugurate (or dismiss) the president and vice president. The MPR is a bicameral legislative body consisting of the the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah/DPD) and People’s Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR).

The DPR, which consists of 560 members, can form and approve laws, calculate the president’s joint annual budget, and oversee the implementation of laws and political issues. The DPR members are elected for a five-year term with a fair proportion of representation based on elections.

The DPD members handle decisions, laws, and issues related to the region they represent, thereby increasing regional representation at the national level. Each province in Indonesia selects four non-party candidates for the DPD (who will work in the government for five years). Indonesia has 32 provinces, so the DPD members each period are 132 members.

Presidential Election System in Indonesia

Referring to the amended Law 1945 (UUD 1945), the presidential election system uses a two-round system or run-off system. In this system, presidential candidates who are declared winners in the elections must have a minimum of majority votes, or 50% + 1 of the total number of votes in the election.

If in the presidential election no one can get a majority vote, a second-round will be held which will be followed by each candidate who is in the first and second place based on the votes acquired.

The advantage of a two-round system or run-off system is that it generates winners with high legitimacy. The downside, this system is very high-priced because it is usually done in two rounds if no one gets a vote percentage above 50%. The president and vice president serve for five years and thereafter can be re-elected to the same office for one more term (hence a total of 10 years).

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