The association between corruption and poverty, inequality, economic development and resource distribution has been investigated widely in the Indonesian context. However, the impact of corruption on political legitimacy is still understudied, particularly for post-Soeharto Indonesia. Hence, we are left with many puzzles and a baffling picture of political legitimacy. This research corrects this picture and aims to ascertain two interrelated questions: (a) how and in what way does corruption erode political legitimacy? and (b) what evidence suggests that corruption deteriorates legitimacy? A qualitative and a quantitative research method are deployed to address these questions. The quantitative analysis demonstrates that corruption is statistically significant in predicting political legitimacy, suggesting that corruption erodes citizens’ trust in the rule of law, democracy, political actors and institutions. The qualitative model reinforces the quantitative results that corruption undermines the rule of law, hijacks democracy and erodes people’s trust in political actors and institutions.
Contemporary scholarship suggests that in post-Soeharto Indonesia, politics have become more democratic, replacing a brutal military dictatorship with considerable autocratic governance that appears to value a democratic governance system. However, exactly why there has not been an actual change in democratic policy-making in the parliament remains poorly understood. Contemporary scholarship asserts that the Indonesian policy-making process is characterized by ‘empty ritual’ instead of a genuine political process, due to the oligarchic nature of Indonesian politics. Nonetheless, there are few explanations of how or to what extent oligarchy dictates the policy-making process at the legislative level; instead, we are left with an unclear picture of the current political process of policy-making in the parliament. This study aims to fill this gap and investigate how oligarchy has used cartel-like strategies to overcome the legislative process in the parliament. A literature review and analysis of secondary data sources were employed to answer these questions. The findings show that the persistence of oligarchic cartels is evident in the legislative process of the Election Act 7/2017. This suggests that Indonesian oligarchs have hijacked the parliament's democratic policy-making process, finding ways to achieve consensus in passing bills and thereby evading complex disputes to dictate policy to their economic and political benefit.
We know from research into politics and power that these two variables are widely discussed as interrelated concepts. However, what remains poorly understood is that politics is not only interrelated with the concept of power, but politics itself is about how power is exercised legitimately. This research aims to ascertain whether politics can be reduced to power and, if so, what precisely the concept of power can explain the essence of politics. A literature study was deployed in order to answer these questions. The findings showed that power is the essence of politics; politics are enterprises sharing and shaping power. However, politics can be adequately understood if power is viewed as a legitimate capacity to act. Approaching politics outside of this definition cannot be said as a proper definition of politics because legitimacy is the heart and essential to power, and only by applying this definition politics can be adequately interpreted. If politics is seen as a right to govern and power is understood as the legitimate capacity to act, thus, these two elements will create a political obligation that is vital in a political concept. Consent and legitimacy are the two aspects necessary to achieve the right to exercise governments' political authority. If power is exercised legitimately, then it will draw people trust. People trust is the precondition in political concepts and political legitimacy, which indicates the rightfulness to govern conferred by people to political regimes or political sovereignty established in the collective advantage or common good.
After Soeharto's authoritarian regime had ended in 1998, Indonesia has successfully been transformed into one of the world's largest democratic nations. However, Indonesia still faces enormous challenges to eradicating corruption; corruption is still ubiquitous and entrenched in governments and political parties. This study argues that the primary reasons for this apparent paradox are the politics of corruption and the dysfunction of the party finance system underpinning the illicit campaign financing system. This research also claims that the deficiency of the party finance system is not accidental; it is intentionally designed and perpetuated by the elites who prefer the illicit finance system since this system allows them to penetrate the state's assets, creating privileged business opportunities and reserving political advantages. The elites minority overpower political parties and establish politics-business networks to perpetuate their status quo and dominance in politics and economy. The dysfunction of the party financing system has also caused parties to remarkably relied on financial support from conglomerates; this situation engenders politics and 'black' business empires networks and oligarchisation. Further, business and political parties maintain their access to the state's resources by becoming part of electoral democracy, assuming political office or lobbying societal organisations, and taking control over economic actions and election campaigns that undermine Indonesia's democracy system. To substantiate the arguments in this study, the researcher uses the literature study and secondary data sources to support the arguments
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