10 Political Characteristics in Indonesia

Review by : Yuli SE., MM

Do you like politics? The topic of politics could not be separated from the daily life of the people today. Every crowds, students in campus, the people in the side of road, everyone start to talk about politic as the topic. It seems politics is everywhere. It was started when Indonesia has the big event of presidential election in 2014. People’s awareness toward politic was increased rapidly.

Up to now, the awareness of Indonesian people toward politic grows really well. People in social media or in the real life will never stop to criticize the political system in Indonesia. However, have you ever heard about 10 Political Characteristics in Indonesia?

Indonesia is the state of Republic

As the state of republic, Indonesia declares NKRI, the short of “Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia”. It was started when the independence on 17 August 1945, the government system in Indonesia formed. Through the national jargon, “Bhineka Tunggal Ika”, Indonesia sets a weapon to make a real country. First, choosing a president is a must for a new country. It was President Soeakrno for the first president and Moh Hatta for the first vice president. Republic of Indonesia grows as an archipelagic state with various cultures.

The Politic is based on UUD 1945

The politics in Indonesia is regulated in UUD 1945. Based on Article 1 paragraph 1 of the UUD 1945 stated that the state of Indonesia is a unitary state in the form of a republic. The UUD 1945 calls for the formation of a unitary state with a decentralized system. The decentralization system is affirmed in the elucidation of Article 18 of the UUD 1945.

The Indonesian territory will be divided into provinces and autonomous regions which are all in accordance with the rules established by law. The explanation of the article asserts:

The State of Indonesia is a unitary state.
The regions are not state-wide.
Regions may be autonomous or administrative.
In the autonomous region a people’s parliament is formed.

The Aspiration is accommodated through DPR

The aspirations of Indonesian society are accommodated by a legislative body. The institution is called DPR (People’s Representative Council). The DPR is divided into the central DPR and DPRD. In this case, as a democratic country Indonesia has a media that should be able to hear opinions and complaints of the people. Through the House of Representatives, the people are asked to participate actively in government activities.

Read Also: Largest Caves in Indonesia

Free-Active Politics For the International Politic

If a country is like a person, that country needs to connect with other countries. The relationship of one country to another is called foreign policy. The concept of foreign policy used by the state of Indonesia is active-free politics. Free in the sense of freely determining attitudes to international problems and escaping from the influence of the eastern bloc with its communist understanding and the western bloc with its liberal notion.

However, the meaning of the word ‘active’ is always being active in fostering international peace. Not just bullshit alone, Indonesia also shows its decisive action. Already many actions undertaken by Indonesia to realize the theory of free active, such as: becoming the organizer of the Asian-African Conference or KAA in 1955, one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, becoming as the member of Association of Southeast Asian Nation or ASEAN which is a political organization among Southeast Asian countries.

Indonesia is the state of democracy

The State of Indonesia is a country that embraces the democratic system. The word derived democracy and the language of Yunan.i, demos and kratein. Demos means people, while kratein means government. So, democracy means people’s government. This means that democratic government is government and people, by the people, and for the people.

Democracy can be construed as the principle that governs the life of society. Based on that principle, the members of society discuss and determine the goals to be achieved together. In a community environment in the village, it is known as ‘rembug desa’, or gotong royong. These forms of democracy have long been found in the lives of villages in Indonesia. Villagers maintain these forms of democracy in common life for centuries. Those are how to determine and do things together in the village done by deliberation in making decisions.

President and the ministry as the Executives

The executive has the function as implementing or enacting the law. The executive branch includes the president and the vice president and the ministers who assist him. The executive board in Indonesia consists of governing bodies and support bodies. The Executive is a political structure that carries out the substance of the law that has been endorsed by the legislature.

In Indonesia, the executive body consists of two parts: Governing Bodies and Support Bodies. Governing Bodies is a political structure that performs the functions of the daily government of the country directly. Meanwhile, Support Bodies, under the institution of the President, and perform the support function of Governing Bodies.

Governing Bodies consist of President / Vice President, Presidential Advisory Council, State Ministry, and Local Government. Meanwhile, Support Bodies consists of military elements (Indonesian National Army) which includes the Army, Navy, and Air Force as well as the State Police Agency. Support Bodies do not perform government functions.

DPR and MPR as the legislative

The legislative institution in Indonesia is a political structure that represents the Indonesian people in drafting legislation and exercising control over the implementation of legislation by the executive board in which its members are elected through the General Election.

The political structures falling within this category are the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House of Representatives of the First and Second Level Parties, the House of Representatives, and the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat). In addition to legislative, in Indonesia there are also two other trias political institution namely the executive and judicial institution.

MK as the judiciary institution

The constitutional amendment on the judicial power gave birth to two new state institutions, namely the Judicial Commission and the Constitutional Court. The establishment of the two new state institutions is intended to strengthen the exercise of judicial power in order to achieve the expected result of enforcing the law and justice.

State institutions that hold judicial powers other than the Supreme Court are the Constitutional Court (MK). The existence of the Constitutional Court is considered very important to carry out judicial functions on cases related to judicial review, inter-authority dispute, dissolution of political parties, and election results.

Given these cases are very specific and deemed necessary to be decided through a new judicial institution that check, prosecute and verify such bodies as compared to existing or special judicial institutions concerning disputes over election results conducted by election organizers.

Politic Party as the organizational politic

Previously, the Political Party was a national organization and was formed by a group of Indonesian citizens voluntarily on the basis of similarity of will and aspiration to fight for and defend the political interests of members, society, nation and state and to maintain the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia based on Pancasila and Of the UUD 1945 of the State of the Republic of Indonesia.

It is mentioned in Article 1 number 1 of Law Number 2 Year 2011 concerning Amendment to Law Number 2 Year 2008 regarding Political Parties (“Law 2/2011”).From the definition above we can see that the purpose of the formation of political parties is to fight for and defend the political interests of members, society, nation and state, and maintain the integrity of the state of Indonesia.

BPK as money auditor

BPK is the short of Badan Pengawas Keuangan. It is one of the free and independent state institutions in examining the management and responsibility of state finances. (Based on UUD 1945 Article 23E paragraph 1 and Law No. 15 of 2006 article 2). There are two main functions of BPK: examining the management and responsibility of the State finances and Supervising the management and responsibility of state finances.

The UUD 1945 Article 23E paragraph 1 stated BPK’s Duty as follow:

Examine the management and accountability of state finances undertaken by government and state agencies.
BPK checks include financial audits, performance checks, and checks for specific purposes.
In case the examination is performed by a public accountant under the provisions of the Act and the results of its examination shall be published.
In the audit of state financial management and accountability, BPK conducts discussions on inspection findings with the objects examined in accordance with state auditing standards.

Those are the 10 characteristics of politics in Indonesia. Now you have got more information about politics. You could be an active citizen toward politics in Indonesia by giving some useful aspirations toward government. For more information about politics, please visit Indonesian Politics.