Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424 ISSN 2477-8060 (print), ISSN 2503-4456 (online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.15294/ipsr.v5i3.21550 © 2020 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review

Parliament Strategy in Indonesia (Case Study of Gerindra Party During Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla's Era 2014-2019)

Muhammad Ridho Rachman Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia Sri Budi Eko Wardani Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia

Abstract This research analyzes parliament opposition in Indonesia by Gerindra Party (2014-2019) as a party whose consistently outside the government and functioning as an opposition party. How is it implemented, and what kind of strategy Gerindra performs to influence the parliamentary decision- making process? To answer this, the study uses qualitative methods by collecting data through literature review, data tracking, and in-depth interviews. The theoretical perspective in this research used Steinack's argument about the opposition strategy who states that the behavior of the opposition party in parliament is the accumulation of the impact of the structural and institutional factors, socio-demographic, and party’s informal rules of engagement. The research found that as an opposition party, Gerindra focuses on content-oriented strategies using the area of public policymaking as a medium of political interplays such as at the commission level or other work units.

Keywords Opposition Party; Parliament Opposition; Opposition Strategy; Gerindra Party

INTRODUCTION the government. With running coalition The discourse on opposition parties mates for last presidential-vice re-emerged after the 2014 presidential presidential candidate Prabowo-Hatta, and legislative elections. In this case, the Gerindra's decision showed a positive losing party in the election, Gerindra attitude as a balancing power in Party and its coalition, declared parliament. Budiardjo (2008) states that themselves outside the executive power the opposition (inside and outside the and running the opposition's function to parliament) is one of the six basic conditions for implementing a Muhammad Ridho Rachman is a media analyst and democratic government under the rule strategist affiliated with media monitoring companies Antara Insight and GComm Indonesia. His research of law. interests include Indonesia's political parties, The existence of opposition as a part and electoral system, and media criticism. of the check and balance functions is Email: [email protected]. Sri Budi Eko Wardani is a lecturer at the Political necessary in a democratic system. Other Science Department, Universitas Indonesia, authorities must oversee the branches of Indonesia. Email: [email protected]. power in order to avoid domination or This paper was presented in the International Symposium on Indonesian Politics 2019, Universitas monopoly. Dahl (1966) says that there Negeri Semarang, Indonesia. The authors are grateful are three important milestones in the to all participants for their valuable comments on the development of democratic institutions early draft of this paper.

Received October 9, 2020; Accepted December 23, 2020; Published December 28, 2020. Rachman & Wardani | Parliament Opposition Strategy in Indonesia (Case Study of Gerindra… 409

--participation in elections, the right to corruption, and support for democratic be represented in parliament, and the values. right to organize forces to oppose the Unlike the parliamentary system, government in elections and parliament. there is no clarity about the existence of The latter shows that opposition groups' opposition in a presidential system. This presence is an inherent part of comes from the premise that the democracy regardless of what kind of president is the sole and full executive government system is run by. power holder. The president has a fixed As their established , term in office and is elected by and Western countries have become a responsible to the people (Arend, 1995). research field on the development of To maintain oversight, the parliament political opposition. Most of their institutionally and individually has the parliamentary government model, the function of overseeing executive power. legislative institutions in Western With typical executive power in a countries were divided into two presidential system, the pattern of institutional roles, support and oppose relationships that occur is the the government. The prime minister and relationship between the executive and cabinet members are part of the the legislature (Morgenstern, Negri & parliament appointed by and Pérez-Liñán, 2008). responsible to parliament. So, the In recent researches, the study of relationship pattern is known as the political opposition in Indonesia focuses relationship between the government on the institutions of political parties and the opposition whereas parliament and parliaments. Zaenuddin (2001) the locus of political struggle for both shows the strengthening of the DPR's parties. oversight function of the executive led to Further studies have seen Abdulrahman Wahid's impeachment opposition as a branch of the theory of from the presidency. Furthermore, political transition and civil society's Tuswoyo (2012) states that it is not a role in dealing with government government system that creates a (Stepan, 1997; Blondel, 1997; Helms, relationship between the opposition 2004). The study of opposition party and the government, as Dahl and developed in various parts of the world Arend theorized. But it is likely because along with the transition process from of political interests, personal an authoritarian regime to a democratic relationships between opposition system Huntington (1997) called “the leaders and leaders, as well third wave of democratization” at the as political support in the opposition end of the 20th century. As Uddhammar, party, which ideology is used as Green and Söderström (2011) expressed, justification to strengthen the role of the the factors that increase support for the opposition. opposition are an appreciation of After the 2014 election, the democracy, dissatisfaction with opposition was filled by parties’ group that is members of the Koalisi Merah 410 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424

Putih (KMP). However, the coalition did of the party where opposition strategy is not last long. One after one of the four produced. Through research on specific party’s members of coalition crossed aspects of parties, including the into the government coalition. Zuhro sociodemographic of legislative (2016) sees Indonesian political parties members, they will explain opposition practicing the “Limited Permanent parties' characteristics in Indonesia. Coalition” whose permanence is Therefore, this study will discuss by dependent on the party's internal answering the question: How is situation. Furthermore, Admojo (2016) Gerindra's strategy as an opposition sees the weakness of opposition party in influencing decision-making in coalition-building due to inequality of parliament during the Joko Widodo- ideology or policy vision (policy blind Jusuf Kalla’s Era? coalitions) and internal divisions (fictionalization) of political parties RESEARCH METHOD within KMP. According to Noor (2016), This research uses a qualitative this kind of condition looks similar. It approach that seeks to analyze the data shows a legacy of the past (especially the gathered on the power interplay and New Order Era), in which the power struggle in the Gerindra opposition tends to disintegrate and opposition activities in parliament. So seem to lose its position. that researcher can accurately explain However, Gerindra still tries to what kind of opposition strategy critical oversight of the government Gerindra practicing. The researcher has even though the KMP opposition a varied way of collecting the necessary coalition-building is gone. As the data. The Source of research data is opposition party, Gerindra actively taken from the Gerindra elite informants takes the function of check and balance by conducting interviews related to the of various government policies based on studied phenomenon. To balance the party policy lines. Referring to formal informant’s data, the main information documents and the history of the party's is obtained from the Gerindra and DPR founding, Gerindra builds a grand archives, as well as other published narrative about Indonesia's socio- data. Considering that the archives' data economic reality, which does not stand is more accountable and represents the with the small community and deviates opinion of parties, not individuals. This from the state constitution's objectives. study collects secondary data through The effort to achieve party goals was literature studies similar to the topic that implemented in the capacity of Gerindra the author raised to strengthen the data as an opposition party. above. The author is interested in researching the implementation of the THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Gerindra opposition during the Jokowi- First, this discussion describes the JK administration. Research is directly concept of focused on the internal political process practiced in Indonesia contemporary.

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Table 1. Opposition Strategy Steinack Mode of Contest Place of Contest Power-oriented Plenary, Media and outside Confrontation politics public parliament Content-oriented Committees and informal Cooperation politics contacts within parliament Source: Two Patterns of Opposition (Steinack, 2011).

ThisTable is important 2. Characteristics because the of conceptGerindra of (the Steinack's composition research of the DPR identifies RI in 2014) it into opposition in IndonesiaFactor is different from several levels Gerindraof strategies:

the practice Size in other of Party countries, Group especially 731. members The strategy. of power-oriented countries with established democratic Averagepolitics of focused 7 members on confrontation in each in systems. In Numberthe context of committeeof the Indonesian commissionthe plenary (at least and fiveon mobilizing members); the

presidentialmembers system, the concept of and public 13% outside in AKD parliament. and Special Structural opposition uses Morgenstern, Negri and Committee/Working2. The matter-of -Committee.fact co-operation

Pérez-Liñán (2008) and Andeweg, de- Highlysought educated to change 38% for things master’s within Winter andBackground Müller (2008) explanation level,parliament relatively old through age with co- operation67% over in which- means a group of legislators 50 years,committees male dominance and by 85% trying. to outside the ruling parties or government influence decision making in non-

Socio 13 people (18%) incumbents, 15

cabinet parties.Legislative These Career efforts aim to peoplepublic (25%) former areas legislators aside from at the the demography provide a clear conceptual explanation regional/regionalcommittees. level. of oppositionParty practices'Tradition fluidity in People's economic movement. Indonesia'sPolitical multiparty Self-Image presidential Figure In Partyone period. of power, opposition system through a relatively general Combinesparties (groups) fundamentalistic may use ideas different and Programmatic Focus explanation. realisticstrategies. strategies One opposition. party could Furthermore, Voters’ thisExpectation study uses the PDIPuse Political both strategies alternative interchangeably. theory of “Two Patterns of Opposition” Hdependingas only been on ancertain opposition topics. party for Experience in Parliament Steinack (2011). This theory is an one periodThe opposition. strategy discussion analytical development that combines Theseeks conventional to explain model political which power in the institutionalPartySpecific Communication-system aspects Structure of the importantinteraction topics between is taken the over opposition by the opposition in parliament with the party factionparty andleaders other. parliament groups. The and socio-demographic aspects in Internallytable above disagreements illustrates the resolve. choice of explaining Culturethe opposition's of Discussion behavior in Aimingmodes at and reaching places consensus used by in the parliament. From the limitations of each manyopposition. interests Power of the-oriented party. politics uses of the above aspects, Steinack discusses public instruments which are mostly the state parliaments in Germany in a delivered outside the parliament and broader context to explain how plenary sessions. Meanwhile, content- opposition parties influence majority oriented politics uses the area of public policy in parliament. policy-making as an interaction place of This theory argues that opposition political units such as at the commission strategies are divided into two types, or work unit level. cooperation and confrontation. 412 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424

The description of the opposition party actors. The second argument is party's behaviors also discusses that this theory can be applied in various legislation preferences. In general, state systems with opposition groups in political parties as organized political parliament. The reason is, this theory groups have certain orientations, values focuses on institutions. and ideals. Usually, each party has its However, there are differences in the preferences toward legislation on area coverage aspect because this theory particular issues which become the is on a state scale, whereas in the party's political agenda. An analysis of Gerindra case it was in the national the power-oriented or content-oriented parliament level. strategy can explain opposition parties' law-making orientation to achieve their Concept of Parliamentary Opposition own goals. in Indonesia Furthermore, the discussion on the The explanation of the opposition party's structural and institutional party in Indonesia has become a long aspects and the socio-demographics of discourse because the political system's party members. The quantity of framework and the opposition party's members of parliament directly behavior do not provide confirmation of influences the party attitudes its existence. The description of represented by each member of opposition parties in presidential parliament. Besides, the age and gender countries can be explained through an distribution of parliament members also institutional approach. Several studies influence the behavior of an opposition take place the Indonesian presidential party. The last thing is related to the system on a consensus democracy party's aspect, which covers history, model, which is a theoretical concept ideology, and internal culture. The regarding a fragmentation power- Social Democratic Party in Germany sharing model to produce socio-political which focuses on content-oriented stability (Arend, 1995; Andeweg, 2013; politics is quite relevant because of its Blas, 2018). Various consensual political history as a mass party representing practices that occur also involve workers' groups. As an old party, this opposition parties, so that the legislative party is more focused on real political body is such a "turah coalition" that solutions than idealism. Meanwhile, the maintains cartel practices (Ambardi, Green Party from a contemporary 2009). Therefore, the cartel thesis rejects grassroots movement is still mobilizing the existence of opposition in protest actions outside the parliament. Indonesia's political system since the Two arguments support the implementation of multiparty implementation of this theory in the case presidentialism in 2004. of the Gerindra Party. The first The rejection of the opposition argument is in line with the discussion party's existence by the cartel of this research which focuses on a perspective is due to the strict comprehensive analysis of political translation of the opposition's concept.

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Hanan (2012) views the fact that there same time announcing his resignation are opposition parties and the cartel from the ranks of the Golkar Party thesis's weaknesses. However, in Advisory Council. practice, the culture of opposition is not Gerindra's birth was based on its strong enough in the Indonesian founders' joint reflection on evaluating political system. Meanwhile, Tuswoyo the Indonesian nation's journey since the (2012) states that the PDI Perjuangan 1998 Reformation. They considered that initiated the opposition tradition of the Government had practiced a multiparty presidentialism after the capitalistic economic system that did not 2004 elections. Referring to the above produce people's welfare (Zon, 2011). conditions, at least this paper needs to The political system is considered to present the arguments of Morgenstern, have not produced a strong national Negri and Pérez-Liñán (2008) that the leadership. Through such narratives, opposition in the presidential system is Gerindra offers a genuine and consistent a group of legislators outside the ruling re-application of Pancasila and the 1945 parties or government cabinet parties. Constitution in order to lead the Somehow, election constantly results Indonesian people to prosperity with both winning and losing groups, so justice. naturally there are always groups As a party icon, Gerindra cannot be outside the government. separated from Prabowo's work in various socio-economic fields. Prabowo RESULTS AND DISCUSSION is the chairman of the HKTI (Indonesian Gerindra: Between Figures and Farmers Association) for the period Populist Nationalist 2004-2009 and the APPSI (Association of Gerindra Party is one of the parties Indonesian Market Traders) for the that was born after the 1998 period 2008-2013. Therefore, the Reformation. Gerindra was founded on Gerindra board uses Prabowo to February 6, 2008, with Prof. Suhardi as represent the party image not yet widely the first general chairman. Gerindra's known. Prabowo's character was birth cannot be separated from the effectively able to convince the public to character of Prabowo Subianto, who is the ideas championed by Gerindra. the Commander of Koppasus (1995- Moreover, those organizations became 1998) and the former son-in-law of the main real mass when Gerindra to President Soeharto. At the beginning of face the 2009 election. They became Gerindra's establishment, Prabowo was Gerindra support organizations outside mostly behind the scenes. Whereas, by the party structure (Amrillah, 2016). By its founders, Prabowo repeatedly was campaigning for the idea of a people’s presented ideas and concepts of a new economy through Prabowo's figure, party. After Gerindra was declared a Gerindra was able to take on the party to participate in the elections, on traditional-nationalist voter base and July 12, 2008, Prabowo had lately the middle to lower economic registered as a Gerindra cadre at the 414 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424 community belonging to the PDIP Gerindra coalition agreed to carry (Aminuddin & Ramadlan, 2015). Megawati-Prabowo in the 2009 The presidential election in 2004 has presidential election. In the 2014 prompted political parties to seek presidential election, Gerindra was able popular figures to serve as their to carry Prabowo as his presidential potential presidential candidates. candidate after gaining 11.81% of the Therefore, it is not surprising that new election. At that time, Gerindra built the parties have emerged that rely on Red and White Coalition (KMP) with certain figures to run for the presidency. four parties (Golkar, PAN, PKS, PPP) The Democrat Party (2004) proved this which Prabowo paired with Hatta party's behavior, which immediately Rajasa. won the presidential election by carrying the party icon, Susilo Bambang Being in Opposition from the Yudhoyono (SBY) in the 2004 Beginning presidential election. According to Ufen Gerindra is the only political party (2006), a party that has been designed to that has consistently been outside the carry an individual (founder) as a government since its first participation presidential candidate from the in the 2009 election. Gerindra’s failure to beginning of is called a vehicle party or win Prabowo Subianto in the 2009 and “presidential party”. The Democrat 2014 presidential elections was one Party, the Hanura Party and the reason for Gerindra's political choice to Gerindra Party appear to fall into the be outside the government. This is a vehicle party category (Alhamid & common practice in various countries Perdana, 2018). where the losing parties fill the Statement mentioning Gerindra as opposition group. Although Prabowo proved the presidential party constitutionally, the executive control nominated as the vice-presidential function is the legislative body's duty, in candidate in the 2009 elections and the practice the ruling party groups in the presidential candidate in the 2014 parliament tend to always support election. In 2009, Gerindra was quite government programs. For this reason, settled about making Prabowo a the opposition is expected to balance the presidential candidate. But, in looking function of parliamentary control over for coalition partners, it seems that the government. Gerindra does not have a high enough In expressing his opinion on various bargaining position considering that issues in the country, Gerindra has been they only collected 4.46% in the 2009 using the internet and social media preliminary legislative election. platforms. Gerindra is the leading However, Gerindra experienced political party in public communication difficulties because other parties have by adapting the corporate public declared themselves to support the relations model into political parties incumbent SBY-Boediono immediately. through the Gerindra Media Center After tough negotiations, the PDIP- (Zulfikar, 2009). Through an

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Table 2. Characteristics of Gerindra (the composition of the DPR RI in 2014) Factor Gerindra Size of Party Group 73 members. Average of 7 members in each commission (at Number of least five members); and 13% in AKD and committee members Structural Special Committee/Working Committee. Highly educated 38% for master’s level,

- Background relatively old age with 67% over 50 years, male dominance 85%.

Socio 13 people (18%) incumbents, 15 people (25%) Legislative Career demography former legislators at the regional/regional level. Party Tradition People's economic movement. Political Self-Image Figure Party. Combines fundamentalistic ideas and realistic Programmatic Focus

strategies. Voters’ Expectation PDIP Political alternative. Experience in Has only been an opposition party for one Parliament period.

Communication The conventional model which in important PartySpecific Structure topics is taken over by the faction leaders. Internally disagreements resolve. Aiming at Culture of reaching consensus in many interests of the Discussion party. Source: Steinack's theoretical framework (Steinack, 2011). independently developed public Strengthening Institutions: Becoming communication structure, Gerindra Leader of the Opposition narrated various oppositional In the 2014-2019 government arguments against the government in period, the Gerindra opposition's role addition to advertising the party's became more significant with the profile, vision and mission, and various composition of the parliamentary power activities. The Gerindra social media totaling 73 people (a total of 560). strategy, been built for a long time, is Gerindra Party Faction members also considered by observers to be the filled important positions and all the neatest with campaign messages and a Complementary Organs (AKD). In top-down-centered communication addition, the figure of Prabowo system (Utomo, 2018) so that it can Subianto is one of the important factors produce direct communication space that has made Gerindra labeled the with the public while shifting the role of leader of the opposition party. Prabowo mainstream media (Kusumadewi, 2016). is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and General Chair of the Gerindra Party 416 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424

Figure 1. Gerindra’s Members in House

12% 12% 9% 14% 12% 12% 20%

total 73 total 50 total 17 total 100 total 5 total 66 total 25

Budget Committee Legislation Steering Committee Committee for Household Ethics Committee Leadership Committee Inter-Parliamentary Committee Cooperation Member Total Member Gerindra

Source: Website www.dpr.go.id. as well as the party's representative in maintain a conducive conflict compared the national leadership. Gerindra to opposition movements outside nominated him as a vice-presidential parliament. Even Hans Daalder stated candidate in the 2009 presidential that “strong opposition forces in election and as a presidential candidate parliament can maintain accountability in the 2014 presidential election. In his on a regular basis and ensure a system second term as an opposition, Gerindra remains open” (Admojo, 2016). took an important role in exercising control over executive power. Explanation of the Opposition's In its capacity as an opposition party Strategy during the Jokowi-JK administration, In simple terms, the opposition Gerindra tried to implement strategy is an attempt to change or supervisory politics based on the vision prevent changes in government policy. and mission and the party's manifesto. Furthermore, this discussion seeks to Gerindra optimized its cadres' role to offer explanatory answers to the oversee the government's work, problems raised in this study: especially through its representatives in Gerindra's opposition strategy in the Indonesian Parliament. The influencing parliament decisions. The existence of the opposition in parliament theoretical basis used to analyze this clearly plays a central role in a system of problem is the theory of two patterns of representative democracy. Aside from opposition which in general states that being more effective, institutional the identification of the opposition opposition instruments are able to strategy covers many factors in such a

Rachman & Wardani | Parliament Opposition Strategy in Indonesia (Case Study of Gerindra… 417 way as to shape the behavior of the members at the local level, as well as opposition party in parliament. local executive leaders). The majority of This theory states that the parliament members are over 50 years oppositional strategy's preference is old (67%) and mostly complementary determined by the institutional organs (AKD) positions are held by the framework, party aspects, and socio- elderly. Furthermore, the presence of demographic factors. By analyzing these party founders and early Gerindra factors, this study is able to provide politicians who are still active as arguments for the choice of opposition legislators. These factors above assumed strategy used more deeply. This study that they have had quite a long political shows the large involvement of the experience and have influenced the Gerindra opposition party in each phase internal party culture and formed the of the parliament discussion. This means image of the party in plenary and in the that Gerindra uses content-oriented media. politics (content strategy) by Third, the content strategy cooperating with other political parties. argument comes from the rivalry Several arguments can explain the between the ruling party PDIP and the preference for this opposition strategy. Gerindra opposition party which have First, structurally Gerindra is the similar party aspects. At least the opposition party with the most people’s economic movement factors, representative composition according to the image as a figured party, and the content strategy (Table 2). With same voting base make the opposition significant representatives, Gerindra party avoid extreme positions against indeed able to involve itself in many the ruling party. discussions and is quite influential in every decision-making process. Each Implementation of the Opposition in faction parties assign their the DPR for the 2014-2019 Period representatives to discuss the draft bill An explanation of the in a commission/working committee implementation of the opposition with other representative party groups. Gerindra regards to parliamentary Meetings held uses a deliberation functions in legislation, budget and mechanism based on the principle of supervision. In legislation functions, equal rights for all representatives of Gerindra tries to be consistent with the political parties. The difference of views Law's struggle on the protection of and debate is an inevitable part. national commodities, oriented towards Second, the socio-demographic the people's economy, and anti- background of the Gerindra party liberalization according to the Party faction also influenced the party’s Manifesto. Gerindra's commitment to oppositional nuances. Nearly 50% of the legislative agenda is proven by its Gerindra legislators have experience preparation for the National Legislation with parliamentary activities Program (Prolegnas). (incumbents, former representative 418 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424

In legislation, Gerindra's attitude Consistently criticizing the ratio of towards the People's Housing Savings state income and tax targets makes (Tapera) Bill clearly shows its siding Gerindra quite a dilemma with the Tax with the lower-class society. The Amnesty Law discourse. In the midst of regulations of homeownership the country's difficulties in filling the accessibility for low-income people are APBN debt gap, Gerindra does not have considered burdensome for companies an alternative solution than the potential where employees work, housing for instant revenue from tax amnesty. entrepreneurs, and the property This is reflected in the change in investment environment. Gerindra Gerindra's attitude, which initially argues that the backlog crisis needs to be rejected this law. However, the critical intervened by policies the small favor power of the opposition still appears at community. With a legal umbrella, the evaluation stage. Related to this, Gerindra hopes to give the government further discussion will be delivered to flexibility in drafting various technical the implementation of the Gerindra regulations (Transcript of the Tapera Bill opposition in the supervisory function. Special Committee meeting, 17/11/2015). Besides KPK Bill, Gerindra's In ensuring the fishing profession's counter-argument towards the KPK sustainability, Gerindra has become one institution's weakening is also evident in of the vocal factions by initiating Law the Wiretapping Bill. As known, KPK Number 7 of 2016 concerning the was given the exclusive right to tap Protection and Empowerment of without the court's permission. This Fishermen, Fish Cultivators and Salt authority is a legal breakthrough Farmers. Proposing the bill in 2015, because Indonesian legal norms place Gerindra's commitment was also seen corruption cases as a special crime. by holding an audience (RDPU) with However, the wiretapping authority has Fisher Associations at Commission IV of the potential to violate human rights, the DPR (Commission Meeting, endanger, and have the potential to be 16/5/2015). The bill comprehensively politicized. Therefore, when this bill was obliges the government to support all proposed, there was a bias towards the categories of fishermen. One of the interests of regulating the KPK oppositional topics against the wiretapping authority. In its argument, government is Article 11 which Gerindra convinced the public that his prohibits the Central and Local faction agreed with the law on Governments from “making policies wiretapping but gave an exception to that are contrary to the protection and the KPK. In fact, the Gerindra faction is empowerment of fishermen, fish raisers committed to strengthening the and salt farmers”. The legal authority of the KPK by including the consequences make the government SOP of KPK internal wiretapping into have a tough task in fulfilling the the Wiretapping Law. mandate of this law. Through populist economic ideas, the state-owned corporation (BUMN)

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Bill has become one of Gerindra's liberal and capitalistic economic system agendas since the 2015-2019 Prolegnas so that the state is considered to have proposal. The issue of privatization, deviated from the state's goal. loss, and corruption are discourses Instead of boosting tax revenue in conveyed by Gerindra politicians in the 2015 State budget, the early second numerous forums. Gerindra's argument term of the Joko Widodo government seems consistent with their line party's undoubtedly provided incentive tax and struggle and public discourse. In DPR import duty to certain industries. internal discussion, Gerindra pushed for Indeed, the 2015 APBNP was an initial a clause that closed all privatization exercise for Gerindra's budget gaps, including through the company's controlling. Gerindra held series of subsidiaries “children and internal discussions with experts to grandchildren” scheme (Public Review jointly criticize the draft state budget of the BUMN Bill-Baleg with Experts). proposal. Early in its parliament period, At least, Gerindra found anomalies Gerindra has always displayed a such as massive cuts in fuel subsidies in prominent profile in the field of budget contrast with reducing the budget politics. Several times, Gerindra Faction deficit targets. Foreign loans to cover the undoubtedly conveys rejection of the deficit state revenue accompanied by state expenditure proposal and project and program loans, the accountability for the State Budget government was reluctant to raise tax (APBN). A similar situation has often targets and the massive issuance in been repeated since Gerindra first foreign currency. Through this entered the Indonesian Parliament discussion, Gerindra attempted to (2009-2014 period), with the most recent provide objective inputs to a more Gerindra's abstinence on the 2018 State credible APBN. Budget draft as another expression of Even though various notes rejection. accompanied it, nine factions agreed to This attitude seemed attributed to the 2016 Draft State Budget. Meanwhile, Gerindra's profile, which often delivers Gerindra completely rejected it. The jargon about the people's economy. In Gerindra faction argued that it would be its manifesto document, Gerindra's better for the government to use the budget politics explicitly supports previous year's APBN because some national protection policies and rejects draft points were deemed unfit for economic liberalization practices. approval. Gerindra assessed that the Through its self-sufficing paradigm, budget posture places too large for Indonesia's economy is believed to be routine expenditures (60%). The tax able to be independent by the APBN revenue target is considered unrealistic. policy and the role of BUMN people- The government seemed failed to based economic oriented. The Gerindra interpret the implementation of Manifesto explicitly contrasts the subsidies as a constitutional mandate. concept of a people's economy with a Referring to these points, the Gerindra 420 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424

Faction assessed that the 2016 State chaired by the DPR leadership directly. Budget was still not based on a planned Meanwhile, each AKD has the authority schedule to strengthen the national to form a Working Committee (Panja) economy's foundations. and Special Committee (Pansus) whose Gerindra's rejection of the state composition is agreed upon by the team. budget was certainly accompanied by Panja is formed from internal criticism. Rejection of the APBN was commissions, while the Special considered unwise and tended to have a Committee has members from across branding motive because the APBN commissions. The Gerindra Faction formulation mechanism is a shared admitted that the budget deficit and responsibility between the government economic recession led the DPR to and the DPR. Impact APBN rejection search for alternative state income also has the potential to disrupt the sources. But the amnesty policy for tax wheels of state administration. But, the evaders, especially the big players, rejection of the one-party faction did not made the Tax Amnesty policy like have enough influence on the opening a “pandora box” that other parliament's institutional decisions. In interests could potentially infiltrate. As practice, the government has always a tax observer, Yustinus Prastowo in succeeded in passing APBN annually Tempo Magazine (December 7, 2015) due to the combination of formal- stated that the fraud potential was high informal institutions from executive- due to the Indonesian tax system's legislative relations which always unpreparedness. creates consensual behavior in the On the foreign worker's issue, Indonesian political system (Hanan Gerindra is one of the factions that 2012; Haris, 2014). reacted strongly after the issuance of The supervisory function is the Presidential Decree No. 20 of 2018 main function of the representative regarding the use of foreign workers. institutions towards the executive. Although DPR has formed a Panja TKA Parliament is people's representation to in 2016, Gerindra Party Fractions control potential deviations from thought Panja's recommendations were executive power. Within the framework not strong enough to force government of people's representation, the Gerindra performance improvements. In doing faction with other factions’ oversight so, Gerindra mobilized the House to over the implementation of the State form a special committee for foreign Budget and Laws and the process of worker’s issues. But that initially government administration. rejected by the forum. But, Gerindra still The DPR is given authority to form has the authority to oversee foreign an ad hoc team to respond to certain workers' issue through Commission IX issues or policy implementations. The of the DPR, which oversees the labor House leaders also have the authority to sector. In addition, the extent of form a team consisting of various coverage issues created by the representatives from the factions opposition party certainly makes the

Rachman & Wardani | Parliament Opposition Strategy in Indonesia (Case Study of Gerindra… 421 government more careful in corruption. Gerindra, who rejected the implementing policies. import paradigm, revealed an In relation to the Tax Amnesty Bill, additional sugar import quota permit the Gerindra Faction admitted they was deemed unnecessary. Previously, were initially created on this issue. The through the Sugar Working Committee, reason is, the Tax Amnesty Bill was the Gerindra faction exposed the sugar drafted quickly by the Legislation Body mafia's deviant practices and and its emergence was accompanied by encouraged the sugar trading system for the KPK Law Revision at the end of domestic farmers' welfare (Komisi VI, 2015. Regarding that condition, the 2015). In the statement on Twitter Gerindra party faction said in Tempo (August 30, 2018), Gerindra again Magazine (December 7, 2015) that the questioned the government's policy of KPK Bill was only topic destruction preferring imports to buy local sugar. from the “hot stuff” Tax Amnesty. Economist Faisal Basri in Tempo Daily On the foreign worker's issue, (May 9, 2019) said the government's Gerindra is one of the factions that tricky strategy was too pseudo- reacted strongly after the issuance of categorize refined sugar and crystal Presidential Decree No. 20 of 2018 sugar on the grounds of protecting local regarding the use of foreign workers. producers. The total sugar import of 4.6 Although DPR has formed a Panja TKA million tons, above the industry's needs, in 2016, Gerindra Party Fractions eventually spilled into traditional thought Panja's recommendations were markets. not strong enough to force government The discussion on various cases performance improvements. In doing above illustrates the Gerindra so, Gerindra mobilized the House to opposition party's involvement in each form a special committee for foreign phase of the discussions. This means workers issues (Bomantama, 2018). But that Gerindra uses content-oriented that initially rejected by the forum. But, politics (content strategy) by Gerindra still has the authority to cooperating and influencing other oversee foreign workers' issue through political parties in commissions, special Commission IX of the DPR, which committees, legislative bodies, and oversees the labor sector. In addition, informal lobbying mediums. However, the extent of coverage issues created by differences in views and debates are an the opposition party certainly makes the inevitable part. Therefore, Gerindra's government more careful in persistence in the discussion process implementing policies. indicates that it has an opportunity to The Gerindra faction voiced the influence the House institutional leakage of 800 thousand tons of decisions. imported refined sugar into traditional markets. The need for imported refined CONCLUSION sugar for industry created a crack for This article concludes that the sugar rent networks and import explanation of parliamentary opposition 422 Politik Indonesia: Indonesian Political Science Review, 5 (3), December 2020, pp. 408-424 can be expanded from discussing 2009. Jurnal Politik, 1(1), 39-74. constitutional and institutional aspects. Crossref | Google Scholar Taking the Gerindra case study at the Amrillah, M. K. (2016). Kampanye DPR RI during the Jokowi-JK era, this Politik Modern: Studi Kasus Partai paper suggests some additional factors Gerindra dalam Pemilu Legislatif such as party ideology, history, socio- tahun 2014. Thesis. 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