The Illusion of Democratic Celebration (Pesta Demokrasi)
📌 The term "Pesta Demokrasi" (Democratic Festival), popularized by Suharto in 1981 ahead of the 1982 election, often masks a formalistic celebration where election outcomes are known beforehand, continuing into the present era.
📢 Elections are presented as a party implying joy, but the reality often involves fear and conflict rather than genuine celebration for the populace.
🏛️ In the New Order era, elections under Golkar, supported by the military and state apparatus, were mere five-yearly formalities celebrating the incumbent's victory.

Agrarian Conflict and Unresolved Issues
🚜 Farmers like Cindy in South Lampung face displacement due to the Kota Baru mega-project, which has been stalled since 2014 despite consuming over IDR 300 billion.
⚖️ For smallholders, elections offer little relief, as conflicts—such as those faced by farmers in East Lampung against land mafias—persist, suggesting that power structures remain unchanged regardless of leadership shifts.
🔄 The continuation of issues like the Kota Baru project (inherited from the Suharto era and perpetuated by the new administration) suggests that power and assets remain concentrated within the same circles of oligarchy.

Critique of Political Parties and Institutions
♟️ Political parties are criticized for being hijacked, acting as "new empires" that prioritize the interests of their owners rather than representing the people's voice.
📜 Lawmakers often act merely as party servants ("koco-koco" or followers) rather than representatives, evidenced by rapid approvals of laws favoring cronies (like the Omnibus Law on Job Creation) while delaying necessary laws protecting citizens (e.g., on sexual violence or indigenous rights).
📉 The system discourages genuine opposition; almost all parties consolidate, creating an accommodative, transactional consensus politics reflected by cabinet positions based on business interests rather than ideology.

Erosion of Democratic Integrity and Legal Institutions
🛑 The Presidential Threshold (minimum 20% DPR seats) is seen as a mechanism to close the door on alternative presidential candidates; no other democracy cited, like Timor-Leste (which had 16 candidates in 2022), imposes such a restriction.
⚖️ The Constitutional Court (MK) decision allowing Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run—despite ethical violations—is viewed as the starting point for the current democratic decay, leading to widespread distrust.
📉 The Democracy Index 2024 showed Indonesia's ranking dropping from 79th to 87th, with a score decline from 0.43 to 0.36, indicating a serious regression in governance.

Alternative Justice and Academic Dissent
🗣️ Due to perceived failures and lack of constitutional justice from the MK, citizens are resorting to alternative mechanisms like the People's Tribunal (Mahkamah Rakyat) to voice grievances on issues like severe HR violations in Papua, mining fatalities, and corruption.
🎓 Academic criticism against the government, though sometimes dismissed or accused of partisanship, is essential; failing to heed expert advice risks policy being made without knowledge or data, potentially leading to failed governance.
🛑 Cases highlighting systemic failures include the IDR 7 trillion loss from natural resource corruption in 2022 and the Kanjuruhan tragedy, underscoring a lack of accountability and enforcement.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ Reform political parties fundamentally, as they currently operate as power structures serving private interests rather than fulfilling their roles in political education and aggregating public needs.
➡️ Citizens must push for alternative legal and political avenues (like the People's Tribunal or the right of inquiry/Hak Angket) when formal institutions like the MK fail to uphold justice.
➡️ The electoral process of 2024 was heavily compromised, with some observers giving it a score as low as 2/10 (or below zero) due to ethical breaches by top officials (KPU, MK Chairman) and the misuse of state apparatus during campaigning.
➡️ Expect transactional politics to continue in the next administration, as the current system rewards political maneuvering and coalition building over genuine ideological alignment or professional cabinet appointments.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Dec 09, 2025, 13:01 UTC