After all of the controversy surrounding the Jakarta gubernatorial race, it’s easy to forget that, prior to the start of former Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama’s blasphemy scandal, the big election story was about the possibility Ahok might run as an independent thanks to the enormous efforts of volunteer group Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok).
Obviously, Ahok did not end up running as an independent, but Teman Ahok has made it much easier for independent candidates to run in the future thanks to the success of a judicial review of the election law they submitted to the Constitutional Court (MK).
https://www.facebook.com/temanahok/posts/1487005631362593
The judicial review was filed by Teman Ahok nearly one year ago and asked the MK to consider the constitutionality of two articles of the election law that they argued infringed upon the voting rights of citizens.
One article did not allow those who had not been on the previous election’s voter registration list to endorse an independent candidate for governor, which Teman Ahok argued prevented new voters from being able to fully participate in the democratic process. The second article required that the election committee to publicly name and confirm the identities of all voters who endorse an independent candidate to run.
The court agreed with Teman Ahok’s argument about the unconstitutionality of the first article and said the second article violated the democratic right of citizens who wanted to not make their political affiliations public.
“We are hoping that there will now be many [independent] candidates in other regions, who were afraid to advance through the independent path before due to various obstacles and regulations.Now it will be an easier decision and more candidates will advance on the independent path, “Teman Ahok founder Singgih Widiyastono told Detik today.
Teman Ahok gathered over one million voter IDs in support of Ahok’s independent run, far in excess of the number required to officially get an independent candidate on the ballot in Jakarta at the time. But questions regarding the validity of those IDs, and, more importantly, how the election commission would verify the validity of those IDs, made many observers worried that political machinations would prevent Ahok from meeting all of the requirements for his independent run.
Ahok eventually decided to go the political party route by accepting the endorsement of President Joko Widodo’s ruling PDI-P party, disappointing many who had long campaigned for his independent run but generally accepted as a necessary move to ensure his candidacy’s viability (in fact for a short time he was considered a shoo-in to win the election after accepting PDI-P’s endorsement, until, of course, the start of his blasphemy scandal….).
If Teman Ahok’s greatest legacy is easing the way for future independent political candidates, then we would consider all of their efforts still well spent.
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