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  • Home
  • About RSIS
      • Introduction
      • Building the Foundations
      • Welcome Message
      • Board of Governors
      • Staff Profiles
        • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
        • Dean’s Office
        • Management
        • Distinguished Fellows
        • Faculty and Research
        • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
        • Visiting Fellows
        • Adjunct Fellows
        • Administrative Staff
      • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
      • RSIS Endowment Fund
      • Endowed Professorships
      • Career Opportunities
      • Getting to RSIS
  • Research
      • Research Centres
        • Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
        • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
        • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
        • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
        • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      • Research Programmes
        • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
        • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      • [email protected] Newsletter
      • Other Research
        • Future Issues And Technology (FIT)
        • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
  • Graduate Education
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      • Overview
      • MSc (Asian Studies)
      • MSc (International Political Economy)
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    • WP137 | Indonesia’s Direct Local Elections: Background and Institutional Framework
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    WP137 | Indonesia’s Direct Local Elections: Background and Institutional Framework
    Nankyung Choi

    30 August 2007

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    Abstract

    In June 2005, Indonesians held their first-ever direct gubernatorial, mayoral or regent elections across the country. Despite the historical meaning of such elections, experiences of holding direct local elections over the last two years suggest that systemic issues related to the elections’ institutional framework have tarnished the electoral processes and outcomes in many cases. This essay examines Indonesia’s historical background of decentralization and institutional framework for direct local elections. This essay also argues that the ultimate problem with Indonesia’s direct local elections lies in its attempt to implement political decentralization, voluntarily or reluctantly, as a way of consolidating the country’s new democracy at local levels. Indonesians have always responded to the idea of decentralization in an ambivalent way, which has in turn affected the path of decentralization that their political leaders have taken amid sweeping political change. While resultant institutional arrangements for decentralization have indeed made local politics and governance more dynamic, they have not yet made political process more responsive and participatory.

    Categories: Working Papers / Country and Region Studies / Southeast Asia and ASEAN

    Last updated on 01/07/2014

    Abstract

    In June 2005, Indonesians held their first-ever direct gubernatorial, mayoral or regent elections across the country. Despite the historical meaning of such elections, experiences of holding direct local elections over the last two years suggest that systemic issues related to the elections’ institutional framework have tarnished the electoral processes and outcomes in many cases. This essay examines Indonesia’s historical background of decentralization and institutional framework for direct local elections. This essay also argues that the ultimate problem with Indonesia’s direct local elections lies in its attempt to implement political decentralization, voluntarily or reluctantly, as a way of consolidating the country’s new democracy at local levels. Indonesians have always responded to the idea of decentralization in an ambivalent way, which has in turn affected the path of decentralization that their political leaders have taken amid sweeping political change. While resultant institutional arrangements for decentralization have indeed made local politics and governance more dynamic, they have not yet made political process more responsive and participatory.

    Categories: Working Papers / Country and Region Studies

    Last updated on 01/07/2014

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    Latest Book
    WP137 | Indonesia’s Direct Local Elections: Background and Institutional Framework

    Abstract

    In June 2005, Indonesians held their first-ever direct gubernatorial, mayoral or regent elections across the country. Despite the historical meaning o ...

    more info