CDI Policy Papers on Political Governancearchives.cap.anu.edu.au/cdi_anu_edu_au/.IND/2006-07/D_P/...The semi-open list of proportional representation used in the 2004 election has

Political Parties, Electoral System and Women’s Representation in the 2004-2009 Indonesian ParliamentsWahidah Zein Br Siregar

Abstract

One of the most prominent means of enhancing women’s representation in new democracies is the use of gender quotas for elections. These can be applied in a variety of ways, all of which seek to increase the number of female candidates and elected parliamentarians. For Indonesia’s 2004 elections, a non-compulsory quota system was introduced in which political parties were asked to nominate 30 percent women in their lists of parliamentary candidates. However, the 2004 election still resulted in only a small proportion of women being elected to the national parliament (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat), East Java provincial parliament (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Propinsi Jawa Timur) and Sidoarjo local parliament (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Kabupaten Sidoarjo): 11.3 percent for the national parliament, 16 percent for East Java parliament and only 2.2 percent for Sidoarjo parliament. These percentages are still far below the 30 percent demanded by women activists.

This paper argues that the greatest obstacles to women’s election are found in the institutional design of electoral system and the structure of political parties. The semi-open list of proportional representation used in the 2004 election has encouraged stiff internal competition within parties. Party elites privilege providing winnable positions for themselves over women’s empowerment, placing many women in non-winnable positions. Consequently, women’s chances to be elected to parliament were very small. This paper elaborates the role played by Indonesia’s political parties and electoral rules in the representation of women in the 2004-2009 period. It concludes by suggesting some reforms to the existing quota system which could improve its operation in the future.

CDI Policy Papers on Political Governance

centre for democratic institutions

2006/2

The CDI Policy Paper series focuses on pressing issues of political governance in the Asia-Pacific region. The series publishes original papers commissioned by CDI, each of which deal with important issues for policymakers interested in issues of democracy, governance and political institutions. The papers feature new research and policy recommendations, and aim to forge research-to-policy links and provide new insights and analysis on subjects of concern to CDI.

www.cdi.anu.edu.au

2006

/2

Centre for Democratic InstitutionsResearch School of Social Sciences Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA

Political Parties, Electoral System and Women’s Representation in the 2004-2009 Indonesian Parliaments

Introduction

Indonesia’s transitional 1999 elections, the first election held in the post-Suharto era, elected only 9 percent of women to the national parliament. This percentage was well below the world average. According to IPU, as per 10 November 1999, the percentage of women in national parliaments

(lower house) around the world was 13.4 percent (IPU, 1999). Compared to neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, however, the percentage was higher. The percentage of women in the national parliament (lower house) of Singapore was 4.3 percent and of Malaysia was 7.8 percent (IPU, 1999). Facing the 2004 election, Indonesian women activists strongly demanded an increase in the parliamentary representation of women. Since most of the parliamentary members were men, it was widely felt that women’s interests were poorly addressed. One of the key strategies taken to increase women’s representation was the adoption of a gender quota, because it was perceived as the fastest way to rectify the problem of under-representation. In fact, many countries around the world that used quotas bring more women into their parliaments. According to Dahlerup, Argentina, Costa Rica, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa are countries that have dramatically increased their proportion of women parliamentarians by use of gender quotas, following the Nordic countries that for a long time have been at the top rank of women’s parliamentary representation in the world (2006a: 145; 2006b: 18). Furthermore, Indonesia’s newest neighbour, East Timor, has 26.1 percent women in its national parliament (IPU, 2003). Although there is no quota for women in the election of members of the East Timor parliament (Constituent Assembly), various types of quota already existed in the country such as

Abstract ................... 1

Introduction ............. 2

Position of Female Candidates in the 2004 Election ........................... 5

The Dominance of Political Parties in the Selection of Candidates .................... 12

The Result of the 2004 Election ......................... 21

The Role of the Electoral System in Women’s Parliamentary Representation .............. 24

Conclusion ................... 28

Bibliography ................. 31

About the Author........... 36About the Centre for Democratic Institutions . 36

Tables: 1: Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for the National Parliament in the 2004 Election ................................ 6

2: Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for the Parliament of East Java Province in the 2004 Election ................................ 7

3: Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for Sidoarjo Parliament in the 2004 Election ................................ 8

4: Numbers and Percentage of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for the National Parliament in the 2004 Election ................................ 9

5: Numbers and Percentage

of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for the Parliament of East Java Province in the 2004 Election .............................. 10

6: Numbers and Percentage of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for Sidoarjo Parliament in the 2004 Election .............................. 11

7: Statement on Women in the Political Parties’ Rules of Candidates’ Recruitment .....14

8: Male and Female Politicians in Central Board of Political Parties in the 2004 Election ..............................18

9: Male and Female Politicians in Political Parties of East Java in the 2004 Election ............18

10: Male and Female Politicians in Political Parties of Sidoarjo in the 2004 Election ...............................19

11: Numbers of the 2004-2009 Female and Male Member of the Indonesian National Parliament According to Political Parties .................. 22

12: Numbers of the 2004-2009 Female and Male Member of the East Java Provincial Parliament According to Political Parties .................. 23

13: Number of Unsuccessful Candidates Who Received More Votes than Elected Candidates for National Parliament by Sex, and Estimated Number of Additional candidates by Gender if the List was open .................................. 26

2

Wahidah Zein Br Siregar

3 30 percent quota for women in public administration and a one‐man, one‐women policy adopted by UNTAET in the establishment of Community Empowerment Project (CEP). These quotas influence the election of women members of the parliament (Pires, 2002). Indonesian activists struggled hard to get a quota for women enacted in an Indonesian law, and were successful. A 30 percent voluntary quota for each party’s candidates list was included in the Law No 12, 2003 on General Elections, enacted one year before the 2004 elections held. Part one of article 65 of the Law No 12, 2003 stated, “Setiap Partai Politik Peserta Pemilu dapat mengajukan calon anggota DPR, DPRD Provinsi dan DPRD Kabupaten/Kota untuk setiap Daerah Pemilihan dengan memperhatikan keterwakilan perempuan sekurang‐kurangnya 30%” (every Political Party in the election may propose candidates for members of the national, provincial and local parliaments for each electoral district with consideration for at least 30 percent of women’s representation). Therefore, looking into categories of quotas (see Dahlerup, 2006: 142), the quota for women in Indonesia appears to be a legal candidate quota. However, the implementation of the quota in reality depends on the will of political parties, because the quota was not compulsory. There are no punishments for parties that do not implement the quota. Furthermore, the law on general elections also rules that parties are the only institutions that have the right to propose candidates for parliament (article 1 of the Law No. 12, 2003), and a person who wants to be a parliamentary candidate first has to become member of a political party as proven via their membership card (article 62). As a result, political parties have become very dominant in the process of candidate selection. Considering that the enactment of the quota was the result of strong pressure from women activists, not the political parties, it is not surprising that many parties resisted implementing the quota. Lists of candidates for the national, East Java provincial and Sidoarjo district parliaments show that most parties nominated less than 30 percent women. Meanwhile, the semi‐open list system of proportional representation used in the 2004 election contributed to the hesitance of political parties to implement the quota, increasing the difficulty for women to be elected. In this system, a voter can vote for a party, or for both the party and a candidate in the chosen party’s list. However, a vote for only the candidate without the party would not be accepted. In addition, a candidate,

In Political Parties, Electoral System and Women’s Representation in the 2004 -2009 Indonesian Parliaments

4 regardless of his/her position on the list, could be elected to parliament if he/she achieved a quota for one seat in the parliament (BPP ‐ Bilangan Pembagi Pemilih) ‐ the number of votes divided by seats allocated in each electoral district. If he/she cannot reach the BPP his/her votes will be allocated to candidates according to their order on the party list. Therefore, a candidate’s position on the list is very important in determining the possibility of his/her being elected. These rules led to strong competition within the parties for winnable positions on the lists. Political parties’ elites, most of which were men, were placed in the winnable positions, as reflected in their candidate lists. This paper aims to examine the interaction of political parties and the electoral system in determining the nature of women’s parliamentary representation in Indonesia. Parties and the electoral system are two significant factors in explaining the failure of Indonesian women to achieve 30 percent seats in the three levels of Indonesian parliaments ‐ national, provincial and local ‐ in the period of 2004‐2009. This paper is divided into four main sections. The first section looks at the position of female candidates in the 2004 election. Here, the number of female candidates and their positions on the lists of candidates for national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments will be examined. East Java has been chosen as the provincial parliament to be examined because the result of the election in this province is quite different from other provinces in Indonesia. While nationally, Golkar won the most votes in the 2004 election, in East Java province the most votes were gained by PKB (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa‐National Awakening Party). Meanwhile, Sidoarjo was chosen as a local parliament because this district was one of the 26 districts selected for the decentralization project in 1995. Unlike other districts, Sidoarjo has thus experienced decentralization since the Soeharto era. Therefore, it is interesting to examine whether decentralization has improved women’s representation at the local level. The second section will look at role of political parties in the selection of parliamentary candidates. In this paper, eight political parties will be studied:

• PBB (Partai Bulan Bintang‐Crescent and Stars Party), an Islamic party, established to reincarnate Masyumi (Majelis Syuro Muslimin Indonesia) that was banned by Soekarno in 1960


5 • PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan‐United Development Party), an

Islamic party that was one of the three to stand for election in the Suharto era

• PD (Partai Demokrat‐Democratic Party), a nationalist party that was newly established to succeed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the presidential elections

• PAN (Partai Amanat Nasional‐National Mandate Party), an Islamic‐nationalist party that was formed by leaders of Muhammadiyah, one of the biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia

• PKB (Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa‐National Awakening Party), known as Abdurrahman Wahid’s party, an Islamic‐nationalist party formed by activists of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization

• PKS (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera‐Justice and Prosperous Party), formerly PK (Partai Keadilan‐Justice Party) an Islamic party that was formed by Muslim students from many Indonesian universities

• PDIP (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan‐Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle), a nationalist party led by Megawati Soekarno Putri

• Golkar (Partai Golongan Karya‐Functional Group Party), the ruling party in Suharto’s era.

Seven of these eight parties (PPP, PD, PAN, PKB, PKS, PDIP and Golkar) were chosen because they were the only parties were able to reach the three percent threshold and allowed to contest the next election. PBB was also included because in the 1999 election this party reached the threshold and was allowed to contest in the 2004 election, but then failed to reach the threshold. The third section presents the result of the 2004 election, in particular the number of women elected to the national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments. The last section will examine the impact of the electoral system upon the representation of women in the three parliaments. Position of Female Candidates in the 2004 Election As mentioned previously, despite their stated commitments, most political parties studied did not nominate at least 30 percent women in their candidates’ lists for the 2004 election. The following tables (1, 2 and 3) show the number of male and female candidates of the eight political parties studied for the national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments.


6 Table 1

Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for the National Parliament in the 2004 Election

Male and female

Candidates Electoral districts

Pol

itica

l par

ty

Tota

l can

dida

tes

Mal

e %

Fem

ale

%

No

of

elec

tora

l di

stric

ts No of districts

with 30 % female

candidates

As a % of total districts

PBB 336 256 76.1 80 23.8 69 42 60.8 PPP 497 386 77.6 111 22.3 69 30 43.4 PD 433 316 72.9 117 27.0 69 31 44.9 PAN 520 338 65.0 182 35.0 69 45 65.2 PKB 451 281 62.3 170 37.6 69 45 65.2 PKS 446 266 59.6 180 40.3 69 65 94.2 PDIP 558 400 71.6 158 28.3 69 31 44.9 Golkar 652 467 71.6 185 28.3 69 24 34.7

Source: Subiyantoro, E.B (2004: 71) Table 1 shows that from the eight political parties studied, not one party fulfilled the 30 percent quota for women in all 69 electoral districts for the national parliament. In addition, only three parties fulfilled the 30 percent quota overall: PAN, PKB and PKS. Among these three parties, PKS was the first rank in fulfilling the quota, with women making 40.3 percent of its 446 total candidates and these women spread in 65 out of 69 total electoral districts for the national parliament. Meanwhile, PPP, PDIP and Golkar, the three biggest and oldest parties and the only parties allowed during the New Order, did not fulfill the 30 percent quota overall and had 30 percent women candidates in less than half of the 69 electoral districts. Unlike their candidates for the national parliament, most of the eight political parties studied, however, did put forward more than the 30 percent of women in their candidate lists for elections to the East Java parliament, as shown in Table 2 below.


7 Table 2

Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for the Parliament of East Java Province in the 2004 Election

Male and female

Candidates Electoral districts

Pol

itica

l par

ty

Tota

l can

dida

tes

Mal

e

%

Fem

ale

% N

o of

el

ecto

ral

dist

ricts

No of districts with 30 %

female candidates


PBB 56 37 66.1 19 33.9 10 6 60 PPP 80 49 61.2 31 38.8 10 6 60 PD 48 23 47.9 25 52.1 10 9 90 PAN 63 39 61.9 24 38.1 10 9 90 PKB 116 77 66.4 39 33.6 10 8 80 PKS 65 33 50.8 32 49.2 10 10 100 PDIP 108 84 77.8 24 22.2 10 3 30 Golkar 104 62 59.6 42 40.4 10 9 90

Data Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah Jawa Timur ‐East Java Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author Again, PKS was the only party with at least 30 percent women candidates in all 10 electoral districts for the East Java parliament. Meanwhile, PDIP was the only party that did not fulfil the 30 percent quota in its candidates’ list, and the only party that failed to meet the 30 percent quota in more than half of all districts. For the local Sidoarjo parliament, however, there was less effort from political parties studied to fulfil the quota (Table 3). In fact, only PBB, PAN and PKS reached the 30 percent quota overall and no political parties met the 30 percent quota in all six electoral districts for the Sidoarjo parliament. Four political parties, furthermore, only fulfilled the 30 percent quota in two electoral districts. The most extreme case was Golkar, which nominated only 15.7 percent female candidates. Not one electoral district for the Sidoarjo parliament featured 30 percent women candidates from Golkar.


8 Table 3

Numbers of Female and Male Candidates for Sidoarjo Parliament in the 2004 Election

Male and female Candidates Electoral districts

Pol

itica

l par

ty

Tota

l can

dida

tes

Mal

e

%

Fem

ale

%

No

of

elec

tora

l di

stric

ts No of districts

with 30 % female

candidates


PBB 26 17 65.4 9 34.6 6 4 66.7 PPP 48 35 72.9 13 27.1 6 2 33.3 PD 37 28 75.7 9 24.3 6 2 33.3 PAN 28 19 67.9 7 32.1 6 2 33.3 PKB 48 35 72.9 13 27.1 6 2 33.3 PKS 37 20 54.1 17 45.9 6 5 83.3 PDIP 44 33 75.0 11 25.0 6 3 50.0 Golkar 51 43 84.3 8 15.7 6 0 0

Source: Processed from Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah Sidoarjo ‐Sidoarjo Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author As for the national and East Java parliament, PKS had the highest percentage of female candidates, 17 of its 37 total candidates for Sidoarjo parliament (45.9 percent). Furthermore, more than 30 percent of PKS candidates were women in five of the six electoral districts for the Sidoarjo parliament. Since a significant number of political parties did not fulfil the 30 percent quota in their lists of candidates, what chance did female candidates have to be elected? This question might be answered by looking at their positions in the list. As mentioned previously, in the 2004 election a semi‐open list system of proportional representation was used. In this system one candidate can win a seat in the parliament if he/she can achieve the relevant quota for election under the BPP (article 107 of the Law No 12, 2003). Achieving the BPP, however, may not easy because there are 24 political parties contesting the election. Therefore, a candidate’s position on the list becomes very important in determining the likelihood of his or her being elected. Table 4 below shows the number of female candidates in the 1st and 2nd positions (that is, obviously winnable positions) on the lists of candidates for the national parliament of the eight political parties studied. This helps explain the low numbers of female candidates elected to the national parliament.


9 Table 4

Numbers and Percentage of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for the National Parliament in the 2004

Election

No of women in 1st and 2nd

positions on party lists

Party

No

of fe

mal

e ca

ndid

ates

Tota

l no

of

cand

idat

es

1st 2nd

Total women in 1st & 2nd positions

% of women in 1st & 2nd positions of

total candidates

% of women in 1st & 2nd positions of total female candidates

PBB 80 336 14 10 24 7.1 30.0 PPP 111 497 6 8 14 2.8 12.6 PD 117 433 8 12 20 4.6 17.1 PAN 182 520 9 12 21 4.0 11.5 PKB 170 451 8 16 24 5.3 14.2 PKS 180 446 6 14 20 4.5 11.1 PDIP 158 558 6 11 17 3.1 10.8 Golkar 185 652 6 11 17 2.6 9.2 Total 1183 3893 63 94 157

Average 4.0 13.3 Source: Subiyantoro, E.B (2004: 73) From the above table, it can be seen that most female candidates were placed in non‐winnable positions. Only 13.3 percent of all 1183 female candidates were placed in the first or second positions. Therefore, only a few female candidates were likely to be elected for the national parliament. Here it can be seen that most political parties did not really try to fulfil the spirit of the quota laws, which was to give female candidates a realistic opportunity. For instance, although PKS nominated 40.3 percent female candidates for the national parliament, only 20 (11.1 percent) of them were placed in the first or the second positions. This means that if all those female candidates on the first and the second positions were elected, PKS would only have 11.1 percent of females among all its members of parliament. This is still far below the 30 percent which the women activists aspired to. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that holding the first or the second position means one can be elected. It still needs to be examined further whether those female candidates in the first and second positions were placed in districts where there was significant support for their parties. If they were placed in districts where not many voters supported their parties, the first or the second positions on the list may still not have a significant impact for their chance to be elected. As Noor Balqis, the only female member of the 1999‐2004


10national parliament from PBB and the first candidate on the list of PBB of North Sumatra III electoral district, for example, stated,

At first, my party placed me in the first position in North Sumatra I electoral district. I come from this area. I know people there and they know me very well. I have also maintained relations with them for the last four years. But, my party moved me to North Sumatra III electoral district. I do not know people here and they do not know me either. My previous place is given to new person who are also not recognised by people there. I think that is why I could not be elected. I believe I will be elected, if my party was to place me in the previous district (Interview 13 May 2004).

This statement reflects the reality that holding first place on the list does not guarantee a seat in parliament. A similar situation applies to the East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments. Again, there were few female candidates placed in the first and the second positions on the lists of candidates of political parties, as shown in Table 5 and Table 6.

Table 5

Numbers and Percentage of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for the Parliament of East Java Province

in the 2004 Election



Party

No

of fe

mal

e ca

ndid

ates

Tota

l no

of

cand

idat

es

1st 2nd



total candidates


PBB 19 56 1 3 4 7.1 21.1 PPP 31 80 2 2 4 5.0 12.9 PD 25 48 3 4 7 14.6 28 PAN 24 63 0 3 3 4.8 12.5 PKB 39 116 3 2 5 4.3 12.8 PKS 32 65 3 0 3 4.6 9.4 PDIP 24 108 2 0 2 1.9 8.3 Golkar 42 104 1 2 3 2.9 7.1 Total 236 640 15 16 31

Average 4.8 13.1 Data Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah Jawa Timur ‐East Java Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author


11As table 5 indicates, like their counterparts for the national parliament, most female candidates for the East Java parliament were placed in non‐winnable positions on the list. In East Java, for instance, only 13.1 percent of the 236 female candidates from the eight political parties studied were placed in the first and the second positions. Furthermore, some parties had only female candidates in the first position and none in the second positions and vice versa. PAN, for instance, had only three female candidates, all in second position. Therefore, if in these electoral districts PAN could only win one seat, no female candidates would be elected to the East Java parliament. At the 1999 election, PKB won the majority of seats in East Java parliament, indicating that it would be unlikely that PAN could win two seats in each electoral district. Therefore the possibility for female candidates in the second position to get elected to East Java parliament was very small. Meanwhile, PKS and PDIP had some female candidates in the first positions on the list and none in the second position. Although the possibility of these female candidates to be elected is thus higher than those of PAN, it still depended on the level of party support in their particular electoral districts.

Table 6

Numbers and Percentage of Female Candidates in the First and Second Position of the List of Candidates for Sidoarjo Parliament in the 2004

Election



Party

No

of fe

mal

e ca

ndid

ates

Tota

l no

of

cand

idat

es

1st 2nd



total candidates


PBB 9 26 1 2 3 11.5 33.3 PPP 13 48 0 1 1 2.1 7.7 PD 9 37 0 3 3 8.1 33.3 PAN 7 28 0 0 0 0 0 PKB 13 48 1 0 1 2.1 7.7 PKS 17 37 2 1 3 8.1 17.6 PDIP 11 44 0 0 0 0 0 Golkar 8 51 0 1 1 2.0 12.5 Total 87 319 4 8 12

Average 3.8 13.8 Data Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah Sidoarjo‐Sidoarjo Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author


12Meanwhile, the chances of female candidates winning seats for the Sidoarjo parliament were no better than their counterparts for the national and East Java parliaments. Five among the eight political parties studied had no female candidates in the first position. Two, PAN and PDIP, had no female candidates either in the first or in the second positions on their candidate lists. Therefore, the chance for female candidates of these parties to be elected was very small. Why did political parties place women in the non‐winnable positions? How did the political party leaders respond to the quota? The following section will answer the questions. The Dominance of Political Parties in the Selection of Candidates As mentioned before, under the Election Law political parties are the only institutions allowed to nominate parliamentary candidates, and therefore play a dominant role in determining the future of women politicians. The previous section has shown that political parties did not really try to implement the quota. Most political parties studied did not nominate 30 percent women in their parliamentary lists of candidates. For example, in Sidoarjo, as shown in Table 3, only PBB, PAN and PKS fulfilled the 30 percent quota for women. Meanwhile PPP, PD, PKB, PDIP and Golkar nominated around 25 percent women. As Table 6 shows the percentage of women placed in winnable position are much lower. PBB had the highest proportion of women placed in winnable positions (11.5 percent), while PAN and PDIP did not place any women in the winnable positions. Therefore, it would be unlikely that women could constitute 30 percent of parliamentary seats in any of the three parliaments studied. Ideological differences amongst parties did not appear to influence their attitudes towards women. For instance, PBB is an Islamic party, PAN is an Islamic‐nationalist party, while PDIP is a nationalist party. While some (eg, Kunovich and Paxton, 2005: 506) claim that leftist parties are more likely to support women candidacy this does not appear to be the case in Indonesia. Thus, while PDIP was expected to give more support to women than the Islamic parties, particularly because the leader of PDIP is a woman, it did not. Women’s positions are similar in either religious or nationalist parties. Here, it is interesting to investigate the internal regulations used by political parties to recruit their parliamentary candidates. What kind of criteria did


13the parties operate in determining a candidate position on the list? How did the parties perceive the quota for women? Seven of the eight political parties studied (PBB, PPP, PAN, PKB, PKS, PDIP and Golkar) have internal regulations for the recruitment of candidates for parliaments of all levels. Only PD did not have such regulations. Regulation for the seven parties above were produced by the central board of these parties and applied to all provincial and local branches throughout Indonesia. Selection of candidates was conducted according to the hierarchical order of the parties: the central board selected candidates for the national parliament, provincial boards for provincial parliaments and local boards for local parliaments. In general, these regulations address the same aspects, such as the criteria and requirements to be a candidate, the selectors, legalization of the candidates’ lists and financial contribution of the candidate to the party. Positions in the board of the parties, dedication to the parties, and personal capacities are some of the criteria used to select the candidates. In other words, merit is enforced in the candidates’ selection process. However, the regulations also show that parties also welcome non‐members who are widely known in the society such as social leaders or celebrities as potential candidates. In fact, there were many celebrities on the parties’ lists of candidates. These regulations reflect the reality that Indonesian political parties are highly centralised. Regardless of their geographical locations, parties at the provincial and local levels have to follow the same regulation. Furthermore, although the candidates were selected by the parties’ branches, the final decision for the composition of the lists was in the hand of the upper level of the parties’ hierarchy. For example, parties in Sidoarjo branches could propose lists of their candidates for the Sidoarjo parliament, but these lists had to be sent to their East Java board to be legalized. Similarly, East Java party branches could propose candidates for the East Java parliament, but the lists had to be sent first to the central board to get legalized. As a result, the upper levels and the central board can intervene to change the provincial and local selectors’ decision. The provincial boards, for example, can still change the candidate lists made by the local boards. For example, in PPP as shown in article 13 of its Central Board of Decision Letter No. 0366/KPTS/DPP/X/2003 on recruitment of local, provincial and national parliamentary candidates, it is stated,


14Differences in the decision to select candidates for national, provincial and local parliaments are solved through discussion. However, if it is unsolved, the solution can be taken by board of the upper levels and if it is unsolved, the last decision will be made by the central board. The decision of the central board is final. The leaders of the central board can take disciplinary action to everybody who does not obey the decision of the central board leader according to the regulations of the party (The Central Board of PPP, 2003).

This kind of regulation certainly will influence the final lists of candidates appearing on the ballot papers. In relation to women, regulations on recruitment of candidates of the seven parties indicate their concern on women’s representation, as shown in the following table

Table 7 Statement on Women in the Political Parties’ Rules of Candidates’

Recruitment

Party Statement in Party’s Rule of Recruitment of Candidates

PBB

The decision letter No 028 stated that in nominating temporary candidates’ lists for provincial parliament, it is really necessary to consider 30 percent of women’s representation. Meanwhile in the decision letter No 029, it is stated that if there are four or more electoral districts allocated in a province or a region either for the national, provincial or local parliament, one female candidate should be placed on number one on the list of candidate in one of those electoral districts (Central Board of PBB, 2003)

PPP

No statement on 30% quota mentioned in the rule of candidates’ recruitment of PPP. However, it is stated that selections team of recruiting candidates should be formed, at least one of whom should be a woman (Central Board of PPP, 2003)

PD No Rule of recruitment of Candidates available. PAN

Attempt to ensure that at least 30% of total candidates are women. From 120% total candidates offered for each electoral district, 40% could be given to society leaders,


1520% to female society leaders (Central Board of PAN, 2003: 3)

PKB

No statement on 30% quota mentioned in PKB’s rule of candidates’ recruitment. The rule mentioned that in recruitment of candidates, national, provincial and local boards need to consider female representatives (Central Board of PKB, 2003: 2‐3). In deciding the position of candidates on the list, one of the factors to be considered is representation of women and youth (Central Board of PKB, 2003: 10‐12)

PKS

No statement on 30% quota mentioned in PKS’s Rule of Recruitment of Candidates. PKS rules that those who are chosen to be candidates have to be married persons. Especially for women, they have to get permission from their husbands proven through statement letter (Central Board of PKS, 2003: 4).

PDIP

The whole process of recruitment of candidates for local, provincial and national parliaments done by party’s board at all levels needs to consider the 30% women’s representation rule (Central Board of PDIP, 2003: 9)

Golkar Considering that female voters consist of more than half the numbers of voters in the 2004 elections, and in order to practice the Law No 12, 2003 on Elections of members of National Parliament, Provincial and Local Parliaments as well as Regional Representatives, in proposing the candidates for national, provincial and local parliaments, 30% of women representatives should be considered, and placed in positions where female candidates may be elected (Central Board of Golkar, 2003: 5)

Sources: Decision Letters of PBB, PPP, PAN, PKB, PKS, PDIP and Golkar (2003) | Tabulation by author PPP and PKB, for example, ruled that there should be a woman in the candidates’ selection teams for local, provincial and national parliaments. Meanwhile, PBB, PAN, PDIP and Golkar explicitly mentioned the 30 percent quota for women in their candidates’ recruitment regulation. Therefore, most political parties responded to the quota very well in their parties’ rules of candidates’ recruitment.


16However, this did not necessarily mean women would be given more chances to be elected. Although PPP and PKB ruled that there should be one woman in the candidates’ selection team at every level, being only one among the majority of men may lead to difficulty. Furthermore, the 30 percent rule does not necessarily translate into nominating 30 percent women in candidates’ lists. For example, PDIP and Golkar clearly stated the need to consider nominating 30 percent women in their candidates’ recruitment regulations, but did not practice it. Leaders of political parties interviewed said that their parties could not reach the 30 percent women in their candidates’ lists because of the lack of qualified women. For example, Abdillah Toha, from PAN’s Central Board said “we have tried to reach the 30 percent quota, but it is not an easy work. There are not enough qualified women” (Interview, 2 September 2005). The same opinion was expressed by leaders of PAN of East Java and Sidoarjo. Suyoto, general secretary of East Java’s PAN stated, “Actually, PAN has tried hard to implement the quota. And PAN has given certain incentive to women. But we do not want women who will only become accessories. … particularly for East Java, the problem is in supply side” (Interview, 10 May 2005). Furthermore, Sungkono, general secretary of Sidoarjo’s PAN, stated that “finding female candidates is difficult. In the party, someone needs more than just participation. He/she needs to give their time, their money, and not disappointed the party. Female cadres of PAN are still weak” (Interview 24 April 2005). Statements such as these imply that PAN not only lacks qualified women who are potential members of parliaments, but also lacks women who are fully active in the party. Similar statements also come from leaders of other parties such as Golkar and PDIP. Gatot Supriadi, vice leader of the 2000‐2004 Golkar of Sidoarjo and member of the 2004‐2009 Sidoarjo parliament said, “I guest there are only about 20 percent women cadres in Golkar in Sidoarjo. And they are the older generation. It is hard to ask the youths to join Golkar. People are still hesitant to join Golkar. Maybe they are still traumatized from the previous time. Yes, it is like that, as we all know” (Interview 15 June 2005). Meanwhile, Sumi Harsono, leader of the PDIP in the Sidoarjo parliament said, “because we lack qualified females, no women were placed in winnable positions” (Interview, 19 November 2005). For a new party, like PD, fulfilling the 30 percent female candidates was more difficult. According to Jalaluddin Alham, leader of the Sidoarjo PD, he even asked the party board members to invite their female relatives to be candidates, in order to


17fulfill the 30 percent quota, saying “I myself put my wife and my sister’s names on the list of candidates. But I put them in the lower positions” (Interview 14 April 2005). The statements that parties lack qualified women did not only come from those male politicians but also from female politicians. As Ida Fauziyah, head of the 2000‐2005 PPKB (Perempuan Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa‐Women of the National Awakening Party) and a PKB member of the 2004‐2009 National parliament, states, “a candidate must be a member of a political party. The problem is women do not want to join political parties” (Speaking in seminar held by PMII Putri, Jakarta 29 April 2004). Furthermore, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, Head of Muslimat NU and a PKB member of the 2004‐2009 National Parliament states,

Experiences in Muslimat NU show that sometimes women are apolitical. I always ask the Muslimat NU leaders in the regions to make recommendation for their members, who among them might be good for being female candidates. For me recommendation is important because not many women are brave enough to promote themselves. Not many want to do that. I am not sure why, is it because they do not have political capacity or could be because they are not interested in politics (Interview 26 April 2004).

In addition, Lena Maryana Mukti, a PPP member of the 2004‐2009 National Parliament states, “I do not think about quality first. How come we talk about quality because we lack of active cadres. I have tried to contact and call any women I know, asking them to be candidates for my party” (Interview, 15 September 2005). Similarly Andi Yuliani Paris, one of the chairs of the 2005‐2010 central board of PAN, and member of the 2004‐2009 national parliament states, “it is understandable if there were not many women placed in no 1 on the list. Not many women sit in the strategic positions in PAN. But, I am sure it is also the same in other parties” (Interview, 8 September 2005). If the political parties’ leaders said that the lack of qualified women and the lack of women who are fully active in parties’ activities are reasons for not reaching the 30 percent quota and placing women in the winnable positions on the lists of candidates, are there any women on the board of parties? The following tables: 8, 9 and 10 show the number of women in the central, provincial and local boards of the eight parties studied.


18Table 8

Male and Female Politicians in Central Board of Political Parties in the 2004 Elections

Lead

er

Dep

uty

Lead

er

Vic

e Le

ader

Sec

reta

ry

Dep

uty

Sec

reta

ry

Vic

e S

ecre

tary

Trea

sure

r

Vic

e Tr

easu

rer

Dep

artm

ent

Party

M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F M F

PBB PPP PD PAN PKB PKS PDIP Golkar

1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

- 15 14 7 6 - 8 12

- 0 2 2 1 - 0 2

3 1 1 - 1 2 - -

0 0 0 - 0 0 - -

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

- 13 - - - - - -

- 2 - - - - - -

9 1 7 9 5 5 3 6

1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1

0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1

1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

3 2 4 6 7 3 1 6

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0

24 - - - -

25 -

57

4 - - - - 3 - 7

Data Sources: Departemen Hukum dan Hak Azasi Manusia Republik Indonesia (Department of Law and Human Rights Republic of Indonesia) (2003) | Tabulation by author Evidently the numbers of women in central board of the eight political parties studied were very small (Table 8). Only one woman became the leader of a political party, the PDIP. Furthermore, no woman was a party secretary. Only two parties (PBB and PDIP) had female treasurers.

Table 9

Male and Female Politicians in Political Parties of East Java in the 2004 Elections

Lead

er

Vic

e Le

ader

Sec

reta

ry

Vic

e S

ecre

tary

Trea

sure

r

Vic

e Tr

easu

rer

Dep

artm

ent

Party

M F M F M F M F M F M F M F

PBB PPP PD PAN PKB PKS PDIP Golkar

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

5 10 8 8 6 1 6 6

2 1 1 0 1 0 1 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

6 4 3 8 3 - 3 6

1 0 1 0 1 - 0 1

1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0

4 1 3 7 4 - 2 3

0 0 0 1 0 - 0 0

31 -

42 200

- 3 - 7

3 - 8 21 - 1 -

33

Data Source: Badan Kesatuan Bangsa Propinsi Jawa Timur (National Unity Body of East Java Province) (2004) | Tabulation by author


19Table 10

Male and Female Politicians in Political Parties of Sidoarjo in the 2004 Elections

Lead

er

Vic

e Le

ader

Sec

reta

ry

Vic

e S

ecre

tary

Trea

sure

r

Vic

e Tr

easu

rer

Dep

artm

ent

Party

M F M F M F M F M F M F M F PBB PPP PD PAN PKB PKS PDIP Golkar

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 6 5 7 4 - 4 4

0 1 1 1 1 - 1 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 4 2 7 2 - 2 3

0 1 0 1 1 - 0 1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

2 2 1 3 3 - 0 1

0 0 1 1 0 - 1 0

15 -

38 122

- 3 -

31

0 - 9 16 - 1 - 7

Data Sources: Badan Kesatuan Bangsa Kabupaten Sidoarjo (National Unity Body of Sidoarjo District) (2004) | Tabulation by author Meanwhile, all the leaders in East Java and Sidoarjo in the 2004 elections were men, as shown in Table 9 and 10, with no female secretaries. Some women served as treasurers in some parties in East Java, but not one in Sidoarjo. Women mainly served in position of vice treasurer or as members of departments in some political parties. Therefore, if the leaders of the political parties said that they were having difficulty in recruiting female candidates, it appears plausible. But, if political parties rely on a merit mechanism in recruiting their candidates, meaning that only those who sit in the board of political parties would be placed in winnable positions, the quota for women may not really work. Political parties can overcome the difficulty in recruiting female candidates if they offer special consideration to women, but they did not. As Smita Notosutanto, Executive Director of CETRO (The Centre for Electoral Reform‐an NGO that actively engaged in the struggle to increase women’s parliamentary representation) states, political parties faced difficulty in recruiting female candidates because their requirements were not objective. “Requirements proposed by political parties to recruit female candidates are made in a male context”. For example, the party requires that someone should be active and has chaired the party first in order to become a candidate (Suara Pembaruan, 1 April 2004). Smitas’s statement implies unless political parties take real action to overcome the difficulties in recruiting


20female candidates, there will be not many women on the lists especially in the winnable positions. Some female candidates informed me that written rules regarding candidate recruitment were not properly implemented. Many elites in the political parties, most of them male, hold the power to decide on the lists and did not transparently discuss the matter with the candidates. Often, the positions of candidates on the list would change only a short time prior to the official political parties’ candidate lists announced by the electoral commission. As Miranti Abidin explained, “at the beginning, I was always placed in the first position on the list. But one hour before the final list was submitted to the electoral commission my place has changed into the second position on the list. I did not have a chance to challenge it because it was too late” (Interview 10 May 2004). Noor Balqis had a similar experience. She said

I almost resigned from the candidacy. I did not know why I had been moved to another electoral district. The last time I ask the head of committee determining the candidate list, he said I will be placed in Deli Serdang. Therefore, I made efforts to consolidate my constituents in this area. However, suddenly, at the last minute, the list changed. I knew that I had been moved to another district. I called the head of the committee, why did you move me? He said, what I told you before was only in private but this was one result of daily meeting of the committee. Can you imagine how surprised I was (Interview 13 May 2004).

Another experience on the unclear rule in determining position of candidate on the list comes from Yayuk Istianah, a PKB candidate for the 2004 election. She said, “Competition in the party is very hard. My party has ruled that candidates will be given certain test before ordering on the list. I got the first rank in that test, but I was placed number eleven on the list. I do not know why I was placed in that position. Those who are above me on the list are mostly my juniors” (Interview 6 April 2004). A different story was told by Isni Dwi Joeliati, chair of KPPI of East Java and candidate of PAN for East Java parliament: “I was told that I would be placed in no.1 if I was in Banyuwangi district. But because I live in Surabaya, I asked to be placed in Surabaya instead. Then, I was placed in the fourth position on the list of Surabaya district” (Interview 6 April 2004). All these stories of female candidates imply that besides the written regulations, there is an unstated rule played by political parties’ elites in


21determining the position of candidate on the list. Furthermore, the stories show that particularly for women, the competition to get winnable positions was very hard. The electoral commission also noticed the difficulty that female candidates faced. Ramlan Surbakti, vice head of the national electoral commission said, “I think besides of lack of women, the recruitment process in political parties has not yet been democratic. I knew because there were many women candidates came here [to the electoral commission office] to find out their positions on the list. They found out their positions on the list here, not from their parties” (Interview, 19 July 2005). In spite of all these difficulties, what was the result of the election? How many women won seats in the national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments? The following section will answer these questions. The Result of the 2004 Election Table 11 below shows that of the 24 parties that contested the 2004 election only 16 won seats in the national parliament. Furthermore, only seven parties‐Golkar, PDIP, PPP, PD, PAN, PKB and PKS‐will be allowed to contest the next (2009) election, because only these seven parties met the three percent threshold required by article 143 chapter XVI of Law no. 12, 2003. Golkar won the most seats in the 2004 election for national parliament, with 127 of the 550 seats (23.1 percent). However, this was less than in the 1999 election, when Golkar won 118 of the 500 seats (25.76 percent) in the national parliament (CETRO, 2004). Meanwhile PDIP lost quite a significant number of seats. After the 1999 election, PDIP won 151 of the 500 seats (32.97 percent), while in the 2004 election it only won 109 seats (19.8 percent).

Returning to the central issues of this paper, how many women were elected to the 2004‐2009 national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments? The answer to this question can also be found in table 11 below.


22Table 11

Numbers of the 2004‐2009 Female and Male Member of the Indonesian National Parliament According to Political Parties

Total Male Female

No Political Party No % No % No %

1 Golkar 127 23.1 109 85.8 18 14.2 2 PDIP 109 19.8 98 89.9 12 11.0 3 PPP 58 10.5 55 94.8 3 5.2 4 PD 56 10.2 49 89.1 6 10.9 5 PAN 53 9.6 46 86.8 7 13.2 6 PKB 52 9.5 45 86.5 7 13.5 7 PKS 45 8.2 41 91.1 3 8.9 8 PBR 14 2.5 12 85.7 2 14.3 9 PDS 13 2.4 10 76.9 3 23.1 10 PBB 11 2.0 11 100 0 0 11 PDK 4 0.7 4 100 0 0 12 Partai Pelopor 3 0.5 2 66.7 1 33.3 13 PKPB 2 0.4 2 100 0 0 14 PKPI 1 0.2 1 100 0 0 15 PPDI 1 0.2 1 100 0 0 16 PNI Marhaenisme 1 0.2 1 100 0 0

Total 550 100 488 88.7 62 11.3 Data Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum‐National Electoral Commission (2004); Kompas (2005) | Tabulation by author From Table 11 above, it can be seen that 62 of the 550 members of national parliament of the 2004 election were women (11.3 percent). This is 25 percent increase over the number of women in the 1999‐2004 period of the national parliament, when 45 of the 500 members were women (9 percent). However, it only matches the representation of women in the former (1997‐1999) parliament. In the East Java parliament, however, the increase in women’s representation has been better (Table 12). The 1999 election resulted in 11 women sitting in East Java parliament. In the 2004 election, the numbers have increased to 16, a 45 percent increase. Although this is positive, the percentage of women of the total members of East Java parliament still remains far below 30 percent. As a consequence, it remains difficult for female members of parliament of the East Java parliament to gain a bargaining position among the majority of male members.


23Table 12

Numbers of the 2004‐2009 Female and Male Member of the East Java Provincial Parliament According to Political Parties

Male Female

No Political Party Total %

No % No % 1 PKB 31 31 24 77.4 7 22.6 2 PDIP 24 24 21 87.5 3 12.5 3 Golkar 15 15 13 86.7 2 13.3 4 PD 10 10 7 70 3 30 5 PPP 8 8 7 87.5 1 12.5 6 PAN 7 7 7 100 0 0 7 PKS 3 3 3 100 0 0 8 PBB 1 1 1 100 0 0 9 PDS 1 1 1 100 0 0 Total 100 100 84 84 16 16

Data Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah Jawa Timur‐East Java Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author Although the numbers of women sitting in the East Java parliament is still small, the result of the 2004 election indicates that PKB and PD in particular have tried to implement the 30 percent quota law. PD has even reached the 30 percent target: of the ten total members of this party in the East Java parliament, three are women. Unlike the national and East Java parliaments, the 2004 election failed to increase the number of women in Sidoarjo parliament. While the 1999 election resulted in two women in Sidoarjo parliament, the 2004 election has resulted in only one woman. This emphasizes that the implementation of the 30 percent quota for women in Sidoarjo parliament is still a long way from reality. The decentralisation of the region has not led to improved women’s representation in Sidoarjo parliament. In addition to the reasons already covered, attitudes to gender entrenched in society might also influence the decision for not placing women in winnable positions. As Sumi Harsono, the leader of the 2000‐2005 Sidoarjo PDIP expressed, “To place women in winnable positions, we need to really see who they are. It is a usual phenomenon if men are placed in the winnable positions. But if women, it needs to be really watched because people will see” (Interview, 19 November 2005). The experience of Chanifah, head of Women’s Department of Sidoarjo PKS, might be an example for this. She said, “When I was conducted dialogue campaign in my electoral district,


24some elderly men, and religious leaders in the district asked me, why PKS placed women in the 1st position on the list” (Interview, 18 May 2005). These statements reflect that the hesitance of political parties to place women in winnable positions is caused by the negative perception of voters toward women’s involvement in politics. Clearly, gender ideology plays an important role in the process of nomination of female candidates. In addition, as mentioned before, the electoral system practiced in the 2004 election also contributes to this situation. Since there were 24 parties contest in the election, achieving the BPP was not easy. Therefore, to get a seat in the parliament, gaining a winnable position on party’s list has to be done first before achieving the necessary quota for election. The following section will specifically look at the electoral system operated in the 2004 and its influence on women’s parliamentary representation. The Role of the Electoral System in Women’s Parliamentary Representation In Indonesia, Proportional Representation (PR) has been used as the only system of parliamentary election since the first election in 1955. According to Ben Reilly, besides the fact that it was practiced by the Dutch in colonial times, for a country in democratic transition like Indonesia, PR is quite suitable because it can derive representatives from various segments in the society (1999: 17, 32). Furthermore, as Wahyudi Purnomo, leader of East Java Electoral Commission stated, PR simplifies the process of election. Furthermore, it is in keeping with the plurality of Indonesian society. By contrast if single member district is chosen, many minorities will not have representatives in the parliament (Interview, 9 December 2005). Political scientists argue that compared to other systems, proportional representation is more effective in increasing women’s parliamentary representation (Norris, 2004: 187; Kunovich and Paxton, 2005: 515; Matland, 2006: 85; Bacchi 2006: 32). Furthermore, large multi‐members’ districts are the most likely to elect women to the parliament (Norris, 2004: 187). However, according to Krook, although in general PR is better in bringing more women into parliament, it is not a necessary phenomenon. Some countries using FPTP can significantly increase the number of women in their parliaments. Furthermore, some countries that combine both PR and FPTP showed that women were more successful in single‐member districts than in multi‐member districts (2005: 9).


25In Indonesia, although the list system of proportional representation has been consistently used, the percentage of female members in the national parliament has never been higher than 13 percent. In addition, the result of the 2004 election shows that the possibility of women being elected to parliament is not dependent on district magnitude. In some districts with large electoral magnitudes, such as Jawa Barat IV (11 seats in parliament), Banten I (11 seats in parliament) or Sulawesi Selatan‐Sulsel I (12 seats in parliament), there was only one female candidate elected. Meanwhile in some districts with small electoral magnitudes, such as Sulawesi Tenggara‐ Sultra (5 seats in parliament), there were two female candidates elected. The same phenomenon is also present in East Java and Sidoarjo. Why has proportional representation not increased women’s parliamentary representation? To answer this question I would like to focus on the type of the PR used. In the early elections, a closed list system was used. Under this system, only political parties have the right to select which candidates can be elected to parliament. Voters vote for the parties and let the parties determine their possible representatives. In other words, the parties choose their representatives in the parliament. In the 2004 election, the list was semi‐open. In this system, a voter could vote for both the party and the candidates or for the party only. However, a vote for a candidate without the party was not accepted. As a result, there was more hope for an individual candidate to be elected to parliament as long as he/she could achieve the BPP. For women activists, this was a chance to increase their representation, particularly because the 30 percent non‐compulsory quota was also first implemented in this election. However, this was a false hope. In fact, of all the candidates elected for the national parliament, only two out of 550 were able to achieve sufficient personal votes to ensure they won a seat on their own merits. Therefore almost all the current parliament was elected not based on the number of votes they collected but on their winnable positions on the party lists. In other words, most of today’s parliamentary members were still chosen by their parties, not the voters. Political party’s elites have dominated parliaments because they are ones who were placed in the winnable positions on candidates’ lists. It is not only the candidates who cannot achieve the BPP but also the parties. Article 106 of the Law no. 12, 2003 states that in the first round, seats in the parliament will be given to parties that achieve the same or more votes than the BPP. They can achieve more than one seat if their total votes equal to


26multiple of the BPP. If a party gains less votes than the BPP, their vote share is ranked along with the sisa suara (remainder of votes) of the already successful parties. After calculating those seats allocated on the basis of the BPP, the remainder of votes (sisa suara) are set aside for consideration in the second round of allocation. In the second round the seats will be given to the parties according to the rank of the number of sisa suara. In 2004, in the first round of allocating national parliamentary seats based on the BPP, only eight parties won seats. Furthermore, most of the parties (PPP, PD, PAN, PKS and PBB) gained more seats in the parliament from the second round than they had in the first round. For example, from 58 seats that PPP won in the national parliament, only 8 seats were from the first round. If the system used in the 2004 election had been completely open rather than semi‐open, that is the candidates who gained the most personal votes would be elected provided their parties achieved the BPP, it would have had the effect of increasing women’s parliamentary representation, according to the projection in the Table 13 below.

Table 13

Number of Unsuccessful Candidates Who Received More Votes than Elected Candidates for National Parliament by Sex, and Estimated Number of Additional candidates by Gender if the List was Open

No of unsuccessful

candidates who received more votes than the successful candidates by sex

No of Elected Candidates by sex

Estimated no of additional candidates by gender if the

list was open Party

M F M F Male Female PBB PPP PD PAN PKB PKS PDIP Golkar

2 11 11 13 14 5

24 30

0 0 4 2 4 2 8 6

2 11 14 12 16 6

30 29

0 0 1 3 2 1 2 7

0 0 0

+ 1 0 0 0

+ 1

0 0

+ 3 0

+ 2 + 1 + 6 0

Total 110 26 120 16 + 2 men + 12 womenData Source: Komisi Pemilihan Umum‐National Electoral Commission (2004) | Tabulation by author


27Table 13 above shows that from the 550 total members of the 2004‐2009 national Parliament, 136 would not have become members if the system used in the 2004 elections had been completely open. Furthermore, there would have been an increase in the number of women. Ten more women would be sitting in the 2004‐2009 national Parliament, increasing the percentage of women there from 11.3 percent to 13.3 percent, which would be the highest ever achieved in Indonesia. Considering that the quota was only introduced one year before the election date, this would bode well for the future. Another aspect of the electoral system that contributed to the failure of female candidates to get 30 percent of seats in the parliament was the validity of votes. According to article 96 of Law No. 12, 2003, a vote for a political party is not valid until the voter chooses a candidate by name. In other words, a voter should choose the name of a candidate in the ballot paper. However, later on, the central electoral commission issued a decision letter that changed the Law. Part 1 of article 40 of the Decision Letter of the Central Electoral Commission 2004 mentioned two categories of valid votes. First, a vote is valid if there are two holes1 in the ballot paper, one in the box containing the party’s number, symbol and name, and another against the name of candidates. Second, a vote is also valid if there is only one hole in the ballot paper, that is, in the box where the symbol of the party is placed (KPU, 2004). After this decision was made, political parties encouraged their constituents to vote for the parties’ symbol. There are two reasons for this. First, parties were afraid of losing votes. As mentioned above, the 2004 election was the first election that required the voters to choose not only the symbol of a party but also the name of a candidate on the chosen party’s list. In previous elections, voters were only asked to vote for the symbol of the party. Second, the party elites preferred voters to vote only for their party’s symbol because it meant that the votes will be given to the candidates according to their location on the party list. Since in general the party’s elites are the ones placed in the winnable positions on the list, this advantaged them. In addition, voters may prefer to choose only the symbol of the party because they do not know the candidates. Therefore, they vote for candidates according to the party’s preference. The one year interval 1 A nail is provided in the voting room to mark the ballot paper. The voter has to use this nail to mark the ballot paper. Hence, the popular expression for voting in Indonesia is “coblos”-piece.


28between the enactment of the Law no. 12, 2003 and the election date may not have been in place long enough for candidates to introduce themselves to the wider society. This is especially true for women who are typically latecomers to the party and do not sit in the leadership of party’s board. Therefore, people do not know them very well. In 2004 elections, more than 40 percent of votes for the national, East Java and Sidoarjo parliaments were for parties’ symbols only.

The 2004 election of the DPD (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah‐regional representatives’ assembly) also proved that Indonesian voters could independently choose their representatives and were willing to vote for women. Unlike the parliamentary election that required political parties to nominate candidates under a semi‐open list system of proportional representation, the regional representatives election used the single non‐transferable vote and enacted candidates to stand for the election without party affiliation. Whoever got the first to the fourth rank of votes in a province would be directly elected to sit in the regional representatives’ assembly. While only 93 out of a total 946 candidates were women, 27 of them were elected to the assembly (21.1 percent of 128 total members) (KPU, 2004; Kompas, 2005; Bylesjo and Seda, 2006: 262). These patterns give more hope to female candidates in the future. When women can promote themselves and show their ability to improve society, voters will vote for them. Achieving the 30 percent seats in Indonesian parliament may therefore be only a matter of time. Conclusion This paper shows that the effort of Indonesian women activists to increase women’s parliamentary representation through the used of quota has not been really successful. Compared to the 1999 election, the 2004 election brought more women in the national and East Java parliaments, but less in the Sidoarjo parliament. In general, however, the quota law has become the focus of attention of political parties, at least as reflected in their regulations of candidates’ recruitment. The failure to achieve the quota was caused by many inter‐related factors such as gender ideology, domination of political parties in candidates’ nomination, and the nature of the electoral system. Gender ideology influenced the level of women’s participation in political parties and


29attitudes of parties’ leaders towards their female counterparts, and voters’ behaviour. Political parties are crucial to the implementation of the quota because they are the only institutions that have the authority to nominate candidates and to order them on the lists of candidates. Although parties have demonstrated their knowledge of the quota as reflected in their written regulations of candidates’ recruitment, these written regulations were not necessarily followed or implemented. Most women were placed in non‐winnable positions on candidates’ lists. As a merit system was used in the process of candidates’ selection in political parties, and in fact there are still not many women on the board of political parties, leaders of political parties have good reasons for not placing women in winnable positions. Meanwhile, the semi‐open list system of proportional representation used in the 2004 election created further difficulties for women’s representation in the parliament. At first glance, this system appeared to provide more possibilities for female candidates. Regardless of their positions on the lists, they could be elected to the parliament as long as they achieved the required proportion of votes. However, this appears have been a false hope. Political parties’ leaders, most of them men, secured most of the winnable positions on the lists of candidates. Furthermore, achieving sufficient personal votes (BPP) to gain election was almost impossible. The number of political parties contesting the election and the high number of the BPP made it very difficult for lower‐placed candidates to be elected. My study suggests that besides using voluntary gender quotas there are some other strategies that should be considered to increase women’s parliamentary representation in Indonesia. First is through reforming the party law to make the quota as compulsory: that is, the law should state that it is compulsory for political parties to propose 30 percent women in their candidates’ lists. Reforming the quota law can also be done through asking political parties to practice a so‐called ‘zipper’ system. In this way, a female candidate would be placed in every second position on the lists. A second strategy is to encourage more women to join political parties. This would reduce the difficulties political parties face in implementing the quota. Meanwhile, women who are already active in political parties need to find ways to gain strategic positions in their parties. Holding strategic positions within the party will make it easier for women to negotiate in the process of candidates’ selection. For example, they will be more likely to


30secure winnable positions on the lists if the merit system is used in the selection. If political parties are hesitant to reform the quota law and women remain unable to gain strategic positions in their parties, a third strategy could be enforced, that is by reforming the electoral system. Instead of the semi‐open list system, women activists should encourage the use of an open list system. In fact, the 2004 election suggested that if the open list system was used, it is likely that more women would have been elected to the national and Sidoarjo parliaments. If the open list system is used in the future, then the task of women will be to show their ability to improve the society, encouraging voters to vote for them in the election. Finally, the domination of political parties in nominating candidates should be reduced by opening chances for independent candidates. In other words, article 62 of the Law No. 12, 2003 should also be amended. A person should be able to register with the Electoral Commission to be a candidate for parliament either through a party or individually. Last but not least, another important thing to do is conduct further research such as looking at voters’ preferences. Through these kinds of reforms and research, women activists can find effective strategies to attract voters to elect more women in the next elections.


31BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bacchi, Carol (2006), “Arguing for and against Quota: Theoretical Issues” in

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36About the Author Wahidah Zein Br Siregar is a lecturer at Fakultas Dakwah, The Sunan Ampel State Institute of Islamic Studies, Surabaya, Indonesia. She is a PhD student at the Department of Anthropology, Research School of pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University- Canberra

About the Centre for Democratic Institutions CDI was established in 1998 to assist in the development and strengthening of democratic institutions in developing countries. Its mission is to harness Australian and international best practice in support of developing countries’ needs for democratic governance. CDI’s work combines technical assistance and capacity building programs, networking, and interpersonal and knowledge exchange, including the dissemination of CDI’s original research on democracy and its institutions. Its focus countries comprise Indonesia and Timor-Leste in South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in Melanesia.

Centre for Democratic InstitutionsResearch School of Social Sciences Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA

37CDI Policy Paper Series on Political Governance

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2006/01 Stephen Sherlock | Indonesia’s Regional Representative Assembly: Democracy, Representation and the Regions. A report on the Dewan Perwakilan Daerah (DPD

2006/02Wahidah Zein Br Siregar | Political Parties, Electoral System and Women’s Representation in the 2004-2009 Indonesian Parliaments

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