Indonesias 2019 General Election Candidates, Malang Councils Mass Graft Case, and The Supreme Courts Pro-Corruption Ruling

Indonesia’s democracy is often judged “immature”, “costly”, and “corrupted”. This article reviews the three main political development in the third quarter of 2018, namely, the official announcement of the 2019 General Election’s candidates, the graft case involving 41 council members of Malang, and the Supreme Court’s ruling which nullified clauses in the Election Commission Regulation (PKPU) that were supposed to prohibit ex-graft convicts to (re)run for lawmaking posts. The analysis of these three events reveals the nexus of the issue of money politics in election, the corrupt practice of officials, and the lack of political-will of decision-makers in preventing corruption and in breaking the cycle of corruption.