Political Parties, Bribery and Democracy Development

POLITICAL PARTIES, BRIBERY AND DEMOCRACY DEVELOPMENT

By: GPB Suka Arjawa

Members of political parties were again highlighted in cases of bribery or corruption. No half-hearted, it linked the largest political party in Indonesia, PDI Perjuangan. It was even pointed out that one of the party's frontman was involved, maybe even more than that. The party leader has stated that he is willing to be questioned by the KPK. Maybe this is a chain case, or maybe there is also a chain of extortion, whether from which side the extortion occurred. In short there are individuals in the party who always feel they lack power.

So, until now political parties have not been able to eliminate themselves from corruption or other KKN actions. Even though the party also often bragged to eradicate corruption. In the case of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) whose cadres are said to be involved in corruption, it must be immediately aware that this party cadre was at the beginning of the reforms which had a lot of talk about eradicating corruption. Being a party member must be remembered, it is only temporary. Especially in the case involving the PDI-P cadres, there were efforts to get candidates with lower votes to fill replacement positions between members of the DPR who died. The difference in votes obtained is also very far, more than 30 thousand votes. It is said that the effort to divert the election was the secret of the party kitchen. Even though the KPU has given the decision to appoint party members who get more votes, it becomes a substitute between time. This is in accordance with existing provisions.

This is the problem of parties in Indonesia. In the context of political and democratic development in Indonesia, no one has defeated us in Asia for the affairs of political parties and government. The party has a very big role in determining the level of democracy and political representation in Indonesia. The political system (and law) that allows the freedom of many parties to participate in elections is a mature and courageous political system. Only with the maturity of thinking and acting, the country's system is able to accept various opinions and criticisms from political parties. Here, the party is a critical community that has various views in accordance with its constituents and ideology. Imagine, if there were more than 15 political parties. That means there are already social, political and cultural mechanisms that are able to solve. This is the political maturity and courage of Indonesia. And the essence of all party debates will determine the quality of Indonesian democracy. As a country that has hundreds of ethnic groups with different cultural backgrounds, political parties can help Indonesia to more fully understand these differences. This means that at the level of membership, ethnic groups and cultural groups can choose certain parties to fight for their interests at the national level. Even if later the various tribes, each had members in various political parties, it was also good because it was able to communicate the struggle to more parties.

With the role of such parties, political parties actually have a big role in developing democracy, running the government and also forming the character of Indonesian citizens, now and the time of obtaining. Social characteristics can arise from the attitude of mutual acceptance (for example), harmony, and rationality shown by political parties. The party is thus able to contribute positively to social values. Even at a gentle level, namely the acceptance of differences of opinion.

But what if political parties actually have the opposite character? In the case of a constitutional system, a party that is corrupt is clearly not going to give an example to the community and be the object of hatred of the community. However, what must be seen and thought by political parties is the object of this hatred. This sentence may be rude, but it must be considered from the beginning. This phenomenon will be able to create public stress, but is in a circle of distress and confusion. Gradually, if this condition is left unchecked, it will surely create a social "revolution" to the party itself.

The first stage of the party's corruption, let alone driven by elites, for example, will definitely get disappointment from supporters. This disappointment will live or be revived in the party concerned up to its branches. Livelihood from disappointment is inseparable from the internal competition of political parties. Political parties in Indonesia are thick with internal competition, which in the New Order era was known as a faction. Each faction has a figure with several elites who surround this character. This party faction grew in the center but spread and had roots in the regions. 

The second stage, parties that have been fragmented by factions and spread to the regions, will bring up the second level of corruption, which unfortunately will involve regional leaders. The factionalization of parties that reached the area must have caused national losses. This means that if they are pitted for an honest national election the party is actually weak. However, the national interest will make any desire or act of bribery by regional leaders to community leaders or to the community, so that they are united in the national interest. It is not impossible, for example, that the party bribes public figures to be able to win their party. Or the leaders bribe each other to temporarily eliminate differences of opinion in the interests of Jakarta. Whether for the sake of the country or certain figures in Jakarta.

The third stage, if it turns out the people continue to oppose the bribes, then in fact that is a form of "revolution" of the people's opposition to the party concerned. If this opposition continues, it could be that the party hit the party will intervene to force the people to vote for the party concerned. This is the most despicable condition of the party to the point of lowering the bouncer who only relies on muscles without using taste and brain. If the people continue to refuse, a sporadic conflict will emerge against the party which behaves and behaves like that.

So be careful of political parties. In Iran, the people who previously always respected the country's leader, but dissatisfied with the collapse of the Ukranian plane, actually took to the streets to oppose the leader. ****

Author,  lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Udayana University