Conducting Regional Election with High Integrity, The Urgency of Stakeholder Participation and Public Trust

by HUMAS UNS | Dec 11, 2020 19:02 | UNS Update

UNS — Collaboration webinar entitled “Realizing the 2020 Simultaneous Regional Election with High Integrity in Central Java Province” organized by the Honorary Council of the Election Administration (DKPP) of the Republic of Indonesia in collaboration with Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS), Monday (7/12/2020). The virtual event invites Prof. Jamal Wiwoho (the Rector UNS), Prof. I Gusti Ayu KRH (Dean of FH UNS), Dr. Agus Riewanto (Director of LKBH FH UNS), Pramono U Tanthowi, MA (DKPP RI Member), and H.Sholahudin Aly, S.H. (Head of GP Anshor Jawa Tengah).

On this occasion, Prof. Jamal Wiwoho mentioned that there are 4 (four) components that need to be encouraged to realize a Regional Election or General Election with high integrity. These components are the administrator, contesting participants, voters, and the government. Further, Prof. Jamal states that the integrity of an election will be disrupted if one (or more) of the components do not have integrity. Integrity, according to him, is a consistency of action on values and principles, as well as the honesty and truthfulness of one’s actions.

“All of the components must understand their duties and responsibilities as well as their respective authorities according to the portion and authority stipulated by law,” Prof. Jamal explains.

Not only integrity, Dr. Agus Riewanto, and Prof. Ayu agreed that participation and involvement of stakeholders are important to get leaders with integrity because all components are interconnected. These matters are related to the two criteria for a successful regional election, according to Dr. Agus. First, an election is a success if it is conducted in a safe, orderly, and timely manner. Secondly, the election is successful in terms of substantial aspects. “This means that the election delivers a leader, which meet the public will and can convey public aspirations,” Dr. Agus reveals.

Regarding a leader with integrity, one of the aspects mentioned by Prof. Ayu is the role of the voters both the political parties or individual voters. Political parties, according to Prof. Ayu, have high integrity by supporting the best candidates. Meanwhile, the individual candidates are also expected to have high integrity by adhering to the regulation.

Meanwhile, Pramono U Tanthowi, MA., take this opportunity to discuss the urgency of legitimacy or public trust in the regional election with more than a hundred participants. This legitimacy is important to maintain and strengthen democracy in a country. Further, Pramono explains that public trust can be gained by paying more attention to institutional design, whether the institution responsible for election administration is institutionally independent, how the constitution and law regulate election, how the administrator is recruited, the accountability process, and the requirements to participate in the selection.

“Next, there is public perception, which has almost equal importance with the institutional design. When the public is no longer believe us, it will be useless to explain that our institutional design is independent. Thus, it is important to establish public perception, especially assessed from the implementation of election stages,” Pramono states. Humas UNS

Reporter: Kaffa Hidayati
Editor: Dwi Hastuti