Surabaya – Coalitions between political parties in the direct election of regional heads in Indonesia are very fluid in character. They tend not to be based on a clear ideological platform, but formed according to narrow pragmatic interests.

This was revealed by Haryadi, a political science teacher from the Airlangga University, during a seminar prior to a leadership meeting of the East Java United Development Party (PPP) on Saturday March 1 in the provincial capital of Surabaya. The other speaker at the event was researcher Isra Ramli from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI).

According to Haryadi, ideologies within political parties are only in the context of mobilising internal support. In external interactions however, there are almost no parties that hold to an ideological platform. This is shown by the fluid character of coalitions, for example in one place the Justice and Prosperity (PKS) party will form a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), but in another place with the Golkar Party or the Peace and Prosperity Party (PDS).

“The relations between the political parties including in the election of regional heads are only counted [in terms of] money and short-term power [gains]”, he said.

Because the relationships between all of the political parties are based on narrow pragmatism, there is no connection between the outcome of regional elections and social change. Of the 320 or so regional elections that have taken place, candidates that are elected with the capacity to change the situation would become better if they were free from these strings.

Based on research by the LSI, only 29.6 percent of the population feel close to or identify with a political party. According to Ramli, there is no parallel between people’s support for winning candidates in the election of regional heads and public support in the legislative elections.

“It isn’t easy to change a person’s thinking about an institution compared with candidate regional heads because the relationship between a person and a political party is more complex then with a particular figure”, he said. (INA)

[Translated by James Balowski.]