A critical, not apathetic public, behind low turnout Wawan Sobari  ;   A lecturer in politics at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java; Currently researching public sector reform for his PhD at the department of politics and public policy, Flinders University, in Adelaide, Australia

JAKARTA POST, 13 April 2014

                                      

                                                                                         

                                                             

The downward trend of voters hovered over Wednesday’s legislative elections. The last election in 2009 recorded the lowest participation level, or 70.96 percent, of the post-New Order, declining by 21.78 percent compared to the 1999 elections. Two main reasons for this decline are that first, voters are busy with other activities and second, voters have intentionally decided not to vote, feeling that no result could bring about meaningful changes. With election day now deemed a public holiday, turnout should have increased rather than declined. However, past attempts, such as the holiday on April 9, 2009, followed by successive holidays for Ascension Day and the weekend, did not succeed in bolstering participation either. The assumption that citizens have chosen not to vote is more logical. The first election in the post-New Order signified improved awareness and expectation for change. The elections succeeded to attract 92.74 percent of voters to the polling station. However, when the elected legislators proved unable to fulfill demands for change, participation began to dwindle. The 1999 elections saw the highest turnout at 91.17 percent, exceeding the average of participation rates of six elections during the New Order, from 1971 to 1997. Consequently, widespread citizens’ apathy is less relevant to the decline of turnout than the argument of public criticism against the poor performance of those in power. With press and public freedom, citizens can independently evaluate the performance of their elected representatives. Today’s higher public criticism also explains the emerging phenomenon of non-linier politics. According to David Chandler, this is the symptom of “democracy unbounding”. The government and legislative bodies are considered incapable of governing and directing people, who are increasingly plural and able to create new public spaces. He writes that democratic discourse focuses more “on the formation of plural and diverse publics in the private and social sphere”. This is, he adds, a “non-linear” approach in which “democracy is no longer seen to operate to constitute a collective will standing above society but as a mechanism to distribute power more evenly through the social empowerment of individuals and communities as the ultimate decision-makers.” Dissatisfied with the performance of their elected legislature and government, people take advantage of democratic spaces to voice symbolic criticism. They create community-based activities outside formal institutions. In other words, individuals and communities are encouraged to make changes based on the non-representative mechanism. They voice their choices via alternative and creative activities in the name of a particular community. The existence of the Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF) established by diverse creative communities in Bandung, West Java, in late 2008 is a good example. The BCCF is the brainchild of independent communities and aims to benefit the public. Some of its independent activities, at least, have taken over the role of formal institutions, such as the role of city planning and infrastructure improvement, which support the growth of the creative economy in the municipality. Another feature of non-linear politics is low or non-affiliation to politics. Creatives are unwilling to be segregated by political interests and prefer a common need and demand to bond their criticism. Therefore, stronger criticism among the public better explains declining turnout than apathy. The assumption that a lack of promotion degrades voters as ignorant: This assumption further underestimates the benefits of contemporary openness. Moreover, the emerging creativity and criticism among communities is a challenge for the next elected legislators, parties and government at all levels. ●

Indeks Prestasi