Jakartans will elect their governor next year. Many would recall the last election where the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) – Basuki Tjahja Purnama (Ahok) pair beat incumbent Fauzi Bowo as a moment when the voice of the people drown that of party elites. The next election might well be another “the people versus the elites” moment. As Jokowi became president, Ahok took over the governorship and almost immediately became unpopular among party elites. Whether that unpopularity is due to his religion, his ethnicity, his brazen manner, or his anti-corruption stance will depend on whom you ask. But one sure thing is that Ahok’s frequent clash with the establishment has kept major parties from supporting his candidacy.
But it is not Ahok if he bows to the elites and begs for endorsement. Relying on a network of volunteers calling themselves Teman Ahok (literally, Friends of Ahok), Ahok decided to run as an independent. Great! Here we have another chance to show our corrupt parties that they are not indispensable—that ordinary citizens who work to support “orang baik” (a good person) are a remedy for our toxic politics. Right? Unfortunately, no. While inspirational, grassroots volunteerism such as Teman Ahok is only a temporary relief. It is not a long-term solution.
Do not get me wrong. I admire Teman Ahok and Ahok himself. But we cannot rely on volunteerism to sustain our government and democracy. Volunteers are temporary. They do not have the infrastructure to provide sustained support. Another issue with volunteerism is that the movement itself lacks long-term programs. It simply exists to support a candidate who happens to have programs. For the time being this looks good enough as we basically have no choice. But our democracy (or in this case Jakarta) is greater than Ahok or any individual. What we must strive to find is not a savior or a “good person” but long-term arrangements that guarantee continuity in the good governance of Jakarta and the country at large. Surprisingly, the answer lies in one institution many despise the most: political parties.
Political scientist E. E. Schattschneider wrote, “The political parties created democracy and modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of the parties.” Parties aggregate citizens’ aspirations and channel them. They bridge citizens and the government. A strong party system relies on parties with clear programs that cater to different segments of the society. Individual politicians carry less influence in such a system. What matter are programs and party reputations. Voters know which parties to vote for if they want certain policies and are less likely to be swayed by populist messages from individual candidates.
One might argue, though, “But our parties fulfill none of these functions!” Exactly. That is the point. We need to shift our mindset from auditioning good people to building a system with accountable parties. The idea that only selfless and good people should run for offices is a fairytale. We cannot rely on goodness. Not only that goodness is hard to assess, but it is also impossible to have a constant supply of good people for offices. What we want, then, is a system that is resilient enough to work under good and not so good people. To build this system we first need to fix our parties to make them more accountable and responsive to the public.
How? We can start with financial incentives. Politics is expensive. Campaign and cadreisation take money. But we cannot just give money to parties given their corrupt reputation. That is why the money must take the form of incentives. The parties must first accomplish certain goals to win the money. Two reform goals are relatively simple but impactful: open primaries and budget transparency. By open primaries, I mean that parties need to decide their candidates for an election in a transparent manner, preferably through voting by all registered members as opposed to backroom deals of party bosses. The goal is to reduce the influence of party elites and amplify the voice of lower-level members. Budget reforms are even more straightforward. Parties need to disclose their donors, revenues, and expenses, preferably annually but at least during election years. The idea is for transparency to deter corruption.
Given how our parties are currently run, these two reforms are still far from reality. That is why financial assistance from the state is needed to incentivize the reforms. And we as citizens must take an active role, too. It is okay to be disgusted by our corrupt parties, but it is not okay to stop at disgust. We need to fix them because our democracy needs responsive and strong parties. Even as we see hope in figures and volunteerism like Ahok and his friends, we must set our eyes beyond the next five years and undertake a longer but more fruitful journey of reforming our party system. Strong and responsive parties and institutions, not good people, are what sustain a political system.
Image: Tempo (http://cdn.tmpo.co/data/2014/12/29/id_356410/356410_620.jpg)