
































Microsoft Word - APE-V3N4-p34


Advances in Politics and Economic 
ISSN 2576-1382 (Print) ISSN 2576-1390 (Online) 

Vol. 3, No. 4, 2020 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/ape 

34 
 

Original Paper 

Deteriorating Image of Political Parties in Malang, Indonesia 

Budhy Prianto1* & Dwi Suharnoko1 
1 Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Merdeka 

Malang, Indonesia 

* Budhy Prianto, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, 

University of Merdeka Malang, Indonesia 

 

Received: August 25, 2020     Accepted: October 16, 2020    Online Published: October 22, 2020 

doi:10.22158/ape.v3n4p34          URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/ape.v3n4p34 

 

Abstract 

In the democratic countries, political party acts as mediator bridging communication between 

government and its citizens. The decline of political party taking place before and after the 2014 and 

2019 presidential elections and legislative elections certainly affects the political parties in carrying out 

their roles. Conducted in Malang, objective of this study is to describe factors contributing declining 

image of political parties and its implications. The findings showed that image of political parties are 

deteriorating due to lack of trust towards the political parties and politicians in the parliament. The 

Decree on direct vote system for both presidential and regional head election and establishment of an 

open proportional system in legislative election also contribute to the deterioration. Implications of the 

phenomenon are negative attitude and declining interest towards political party. 

Keywords 

democracy, presidential election; legislative election; political party, constituent 

 

1. Introduction 

Number of political partiesincreas sharply in the reformation era. The General Election Commission 

reported that 48 political parties participated in 1999 Election. However, the number plummeted to 24 

political parties in 2004 Election. There are 38 political parties including 6 local political parties in 

Nangroe Aceh Darussalam in 2009 Election. In legislative election conducted on April 9, 2014, the 

number declined sharply 12 national political parties and 3 local political parties in Nangroe Aceh 

Darussalam. In 2019 Election, the number slightly increased into 16 national political parties and 4 local 

political parties from Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (Tempo, April 22-28, 2019). 

The fluctuation is inversely proportional to the number of voters participating in the last four Elections. 

In 1999 Election, the number of voters is pretty high, and percentage of abstentions is only 10.21%. 



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However, in the next three General Elections, the percentage keeps increasing. Percentages of 

abstentions in 2004 Legislative Election, the first round of 2004 Presidential Election and the second 

round of the election are 23.34%, 23.47%, and 24.95%. In 2009 Election, the percentages increase into 

29.1% during 2009 Election and 40% in 2009 Presidential Election. Percentage of abstentions in 2014 

Legislative Election is 30%—the highest among the Legislative Election in (Tempo, April 20, 2014, p. 

31; Tempo, April 27, 2014, p. 20). However, in 2019 Election where both Presidential and Legislative 

Election took place on April 17, 2019, percentages of abstentions fall sharply to 19.24 % (Surbakti, 2019). 

Meanwhile, percentage of abstentions in 2019 Regional Head Election is 27.9%. 

According to several political observers, the percentages indicate that image of Indonesian political 

parties is deteriorating, and the public trust towards the parties is critically low (Republika, Juni 29, 

2018). Voters, particularly young voters are sceptical towards General Election because of a number of 

criminal acts involving prominent figures of Indonesian political parties. As an addition, younger voters 

are not familiar with most political party cadres. According to Andrinof Caniago, a political observer 

from University of Indonesia, Jokowi won 2014 Presidential Election because voters and younger voters 

in particular voted for him rather than Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDIP), Jokowi’s party. 

As the result, Adrinofstated that political parties should improve their image among public in order to get 

more votes in the upcoming General Election (Kompas, April 28, 2013). 

Indonesian Survey Institute (LSN) stated that political parties become a democratic institution that gains 

the least amount of public trust (42%). Percentages of public trust towards public organization, 

non-government organization (NGO), press institution and survey agency are 57.5%, 58.5%, 65.1% and 

69.3% respectively (Republika, July 16, 2013). Survey conducted by Surat Kabar Harian Kompas, one 

of the daily newspapers in Indonesia revealed that an aspect determining how many votes political 

parties can get is performance of 6,607 legislative candidates competing in 2014 Legislative Election. It 

has been proven that voters tend to vote for legislative candidate rather than political parties these 

candidates represent (Kompas, April 14, 2014).  

This phenomenon occurs not only in the city but also in rural areas. Vice Secretary General of the 

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Mahfuz Sidikadmitted that political apathy has spread widely in rural 

areas these days. He said that they did not see any change even though they have visited polling 

stations (TPS) repeatedly 

(http://politik.news.viva.co.id/news/read/484404-wasekjen-pks--masyarakat-desa-makin-apatis-politik). 

The public is thinking that political parties can no longer carry out their role effectively, are corrupt, 

and tend to neglect public aspiration. Various non-professional polls, empirical studies, and open 

discussions reveal how deteriorating image of Indonesian political parties among the public is (see 

Surbakti, 2019). An idea that an aspect that determines result of 2014 Presidential Election is people’s 

coalition instead of political coalition had once emerged (Kompas, April 26, 2014). Based on the 

background, the first objective of this study is to identify some factors that results in deterioration of 

Indonesian political parties’ image or critically low public trust towards the political parties in 2014 



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Presidential and Legislative Election. Secondly, it also aims to provide theoretical and practical 

implication on deteriorating image of the political parties after 2014 Presidential and Legislative 

Election. 

1.1 Role and Function of Political Party 

The 2008 Decree number 2 on Political Parties and its amendment, Article 10 (2) of the 2011 Decree 

number 2 stated that the specific objectives of political party are: a) Increase political party members 

and public participation in carrying out political and governmental activities, b) Fight for ideals of 

political party within the life of society, nation, and state, and c)Develop political ethics and culture 

within the life of society, nation, and state. Theoretically, Kantapawira (1980, pp. 63-64) stated that 

objectives of political party are: a) participating in the government system, b) conducting social control, 

and c) stream-lining raw opinion. 

On the other hand, the 2008 Decree number 11 stated that functions of political party are as a means of: 

a) political education for its members and the public raising their awareness on their rights and 

obligations as citizens, b) creating a conducive climate for the unity and integrity of Indonesia and 

ensuring public welfare, c) absorbing, gathering, and channelling public political aspiration in 

formulation and establishment of state policies, d) political participation of Indonesian citizens, and e) 

political recruitment in the process of political position assignment through democratic mechanism 

while taking into account gender equality and justice. Theoretically, the functions of political parties 

are: a) a basic for the mobilization of masses of citizens; b) a means of recruiting and socializing 

political leaders; c) structured political identity, at both the masses and elite levels; d) a method of 

control within a government structure; e) a means of interest expression and articulation; and f) a basic 

of supportive function (Shively, 1991:172-180; Budiardjo, 2008, pp. 405-410; Macridis, 1988, pp. 

27-31). 

1.2 Political Party and General Election 

Different from the era of direct democracy where representing institution that voices public interest, 

demand and support to government authorized for decision-making is not a requirement, political 

modern system in then ation-state needs political party (Agustino, 2007, p. 100; Amal,1988, p. xi). 

Norris (2005, p. 3) even argue that modern democratic system cannot work well without political party. 

Pivotal role of political party is shown in a number of functions it should carry out. Shively (1991, p. 

172) noted that political party plays various different roles, namely: a basis for the mobilization of 

masses of citizens; a means of recruiting and socializing political leaders; structured political identity, 

at both mass and elite levels; and a method of control within a government structure.  

In relation to political system, functions of political party closely associated to General Election are 

nomination and recruitment, policies, and legitimating (Panggabean, 1991, pp. 182-186). Political 

parties would later be analyzed based on the third function. 

 

 



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1.3 Deteriorating Image of Political Party and Its Implication 

In his most current article, Ignazi (2014) stated that recently many political parties create innovation to 

alter and improve their image. However, many considered their innovation powerful and yet distrusted. 

String political party does not have any legitimacy. Political observers considered this phenomenon 

deteriorating image of political party (see for example, Suara Merdeka, August 1, 2013; Republika, July 

16, 2013; Kompas, January 8, 2019). In general, this phenomenon emerges as public dissatisfaction 

towards performance of political party in the government system, party management, and relationship 

between political party and grass root community. It is the result of false campaign promises, ideological 

labels and political speeches. In several aspects, the responses are the results of boastful campaign 

promises (Pamungkas, 2010). National Survey Institute (LSN) conducted polls at the beginning of May 

in 33 provinces in Indonesia which identify four aspects resulting in a sharp decline of public trust 

towards political parties (Republika, July 16, 2013). First, the public are aware that members of the 

political parties in the House of Representatives are involved in corruption cases. Second, the public is 

thinking that political parties tend to neglect issues taking place in the society. Third, most political party 

members are unable to realize their campaign promises. Fourth, some political party members are 

arrested because of adultery, and drug abuse. 

Anti-party sentiment is also associated to political party and elitist’s failure. Social, political and 

economic issues are waiting for solution; however, a lot of party leaders are irresponsible, violate their 

access to public resources and prerogative rights, and even commit the act of corruption or nepotism. 

This elitist domination results in cartel politics. Cartel politics emerges as the result of coalition among 

political elitists to minimize loss in either General Election or coalition. Cartel puts higher emphasis on 

incorporation from elitists who have different ideological background (Supriatma, 2009, p. 8). 

Collecting evidence, Ambardi (2009, p. 3) formulated five characteristics of cartel politics in 

Indonesian political party system, namely: (1) absence of ideological role of political party as 

determining factor of party coalition behavior; (2) permissiveness in making coalition; (3) absence of 

opposition; (4) result of election barely influences political party behavior; and (5) political party 

tendency to act collectively as a group (see Kristiadi, 2009). These characters, according to Supriatma 

(2009, pp. 9-10), bring at least four important political consequences towards Indonesian politics. First, 

cartel focuses solely on pragmatism. Radical activists interested in entering political sectors are forced 

to adjust to this climate. Second, blurry line between government and the opposition. Both government 

and opposition tend to compromise rather than showing their opposing perspectives. Third, cartel is 

collutive system eradicating people’s power. Fourth, cartel has such ironic impact towards political 

power of the people. It produces a relatively passive community similar to the floating masses in the 

New Order Era. Ambardi (2009, p. 3) argued that this relationship refers to effort of these parties to 

maintain their collective survival, forcing them to develop cartel. This collective survival is determined 

by mutual interest to protect existing sources of funding, particularly one from the government via 

rent-seeking.  



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Tan (2013, pp. 81-82) in a study in three Southeast Asian countries—Indonesia, Thailand and the 

Philippines—mentioned a number of indicators of the decline political parties’ prestige. Those are: 

• Level of identification with parties; that the low level of identification is associated with negative 

behaviour that leads to a low level of trust in the party; 

• Undecided voters; if voters are still in doubt, it could be that they cannot determine a difference 

between parties, and therefore cannot determine who should be elected. 

• Turnout. This is problematic because voting can degenerate with various reasons such as 

understanding the importance of contests, personal beliefs about the benefits of voting, and changing 

electoral systems. 

• Spoiled votes. Voting can also show dissatisfaction with the parties offered, and in a complex 

electoral system may cause many votes are invalid even though the voters may not have an interest 

doing protest. 

• Party membership figures. Party membership number; the membership number of the party is to 

measure the anti-party attitude. If pro-party people, they will be more likely to join the party, and the 

number of membership will increase. And when the anti-party attitudes are high, then, the amount of 

party support will decrease. 

The statement of Daalder as quoted by Pamungkas (2010) complements the indicators stated by Tan 

above. Daalder stated that anti-party sentiments could actually be divided into 4 (four) attitudes. First, the 

denial of party. The idea of this category is to deny the role of party legitimacy, and to view the party as a 

threat to the good society. Second, the selective rejection of party. The thinking in this group is to see 

certain types as “good” party types and others as “bad” ones. Third, the selective rejection of party 

system. This group sees certain party systems as “good” and other party systems “bad”. Finally, the 

redundancy of party. This group sees that anti-party sentiment is a logical consequence of a period where 

the party loses its relevance because of the emergence of other political actors in democracy such as the 

mass media, individuals and interest groups, and pressure groups. The new actors seemed to take over the 

main function of the party in which the party had played a role. 

Tan (2013, p. 82), furthermore, also stated that the impact of the decline in the prestige of political 

parties can vary, depending on the political context. In general, the decline in the prestige of political 

parties carries the risk of weak political party legitimacy and elections, which in turn contributes to the 

institutionalization of an unhealthy party system. Efforts to break the circle are with legislative reform, 

specifically relating to the formulation of the party law and new elections (see also Ignazi, 2014). In 

terms of political parties Pamungkas (2010) proposed the opinion, that to avoid the worst possibility of 

the decline in the prestige of political parties, a number of measures to strengthen political parties need 

to be considered. First, political parties need to balance behaviour between politics to seek power and 

politics to fight for the interests of the people. Political parties must be aware that the history of the 

existence of political parties is not solely for power but also for the welfare of the people. Second, in 

order to balance this behaviour, political parties need to have a clear ideological line (bringing ideology 



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back in). In this case, the ideology is referred to a guide that will be used to conduct the political 

choices taken when a policy has to be set. Finally, they need to institutionalize political parties. This 

institutionalization will make political parties take root in society, stable in contestation when elections 

and internal stability of the organization can be better maintained. Similar opinion was also expressed 

by Mahfud MD, that it is necessary to use political movements while making healthy political parties 

available. By fixing the Political Party Law and politics also need to be closer to religion. The 

recruitment pattern of political parties should be beneficial abiding good laws and animates religious 

teachings (Kompas, February 19, 2012). 

Symptoms of the decline in prestige of political parties of this kind are perhaps what Mack (2010, p. 8) 

refers to as disalignment, which points to the state of a major loss of support for political parties among 

core voters (core basic voters). Disalignment conditions are characterized by at least: strong issues 

concerning national identity crisis and leadership failure; the split between the party and its main base; 

severe and permanent loss of support among their core voters; and the displacement (displacement) of the 

main party positions by previously small political parties or new parties; as well as by the electoral 

system applied. 

 

2. Method 

This qualitative research approach focuses on two aspects: first, the relationship between political 

parties (political party elites) and voting members or communities and the arguments that underlie the 

behaviour of political party members and the voting community and their preferences in determining 

choices in legislative and presidential elections in 2014; and second, the practical and theoretical 

implications of the decline in prestige (public distrust of) political parties, both the implications that 

have already been manifested and the latent implications that are still in the form of predictions. Data 

or information obtained through documentation studies sourced in Kompas newspapers and Tempo 

Magazine and in depth interviews with a purposive number of political party leaders, social-cultural 

activists, and voters in Malang area by using snow-ball technique. The process of processing and 

analysing data uses the steps as stated by Cresswell (2010). 

 

3. Results and Discussion  

3.1 Relations between Political Party Elites and Constituents and the Voting Community 

Seeing the data stated above, in general, the phenomena emerged in all types of political parties that 

determine the decline of political parties prestige (image) are four factors. First, the public perceives 

political parties in parliament as being heavily involved in corruption cases. Some of the cases that 

emerged were scandals involving the Partai Ddemokrat (PD) and Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS). 

Later another cases involving officials of Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP), Partai Gerindra and 

Partai Demokrat Indoensia Perjuangan (PDIP). Second, related to the decline in public trust that people 

consider the existing political parties are having little concern over the various problems that befall the 



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people; the main people at the grassroots. Third, the behaviour of party politicians by some people are 

considered as very pragmatically act, where party officials are perceived to tend to behave pragmatically 

in dealing with various strategic national issues. This pragmatic behaviour was later recognized as 

transactional politics. Transactional politics have damaged the noble values in political science. In 

addition, it damages the morals and order of society. The further impact is that ideology-based parties as 

well as Islam-based parties are experiencing degradation. Transactional politics carried out by the elite of 

political parties is then imitated by some people. People no longer believe in ideology but rather to deify 

money (Kompas, 14 May 2014). Transactional politics has ruined everything. Such transactional 

political practices are one reason for the decline in support of a number of political parties. While the 

fourth cause, is still related to the behaviour of party politicians who have been implicated in amoral 

scandals such as infidelity, many wives and drugs. On the other hand, parties perceived as caring about 

people’s problems and rarely involved in corruption get a pretty good public appreciation. 

From the constituent’s point of view, political parties are the link to fight for their interests which are 

expected to be realized in a state policy. Constituents are part of a wider community that has diverse 

interests and needs. Political parties as a bridge between the community and the state have a bargaining 

position as one of the main channels in knowing how to fight for the interests of the people in the political 

system in this country. Therefore political parties are very dependent on the support of constituents in the 

general election (Fionna, 2013, p. 139). Society and the State both need political parties to build relations 

between the people and the state. The relations between these three parties (community, political parties, 

and the state) are closely related (Surbakti, 2019). 

Constituents certainly expect political parties to be close to them and can always be trusted to be their 

bridge in the life of the state. On the eve of simultaneous general elections - presidential elections and 

legislative elections held simultaneously-in 2019, constituents from each political party only become the 

main target of the political parties concerned to achieve the interests of political parties, namely winning 

the presidential and vice presidential seats as well as winning as many parliamentary seats. This is as said 

by a constituent informant of a political party: 

“Their new election moment usually becomes a moment to come to us. So that the relationship between 

the party and the constituents is in my opinion just a relationship that has no bound; it happens only when 

there are general elections. If there is no general election, then the party’s relationship with us as a 

constituent would be impossible”. 

The mutual relationship between political parties and constituents as consumers should lead to the 

creation of loyalty between the two parties. However, this does not seem to have become a reality in 

Malang. In the end, constituents tend to have a negative view of political parties, including political 

parties and their elected legislators during general elections. The statement of a socio-cultural observer 

who was a research informant strengthened the phenomenon of these negative views: 

“I think it is natural for a constituent’s view to be like that, and that is indeed a result of low trust in the 

party and the relative inadequacy of the image of legislators among constituents”. 



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The facts above found were supported by various polls conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute 

since 2004, which found fairly consistent results that the public tends to have a negative view of political 

parties. In early 2015, the level of trust in political parties and the House of Representatives (Dewan 

Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR) was in the range of 50%, far below the confidence in the president (83%) and 

the Corruption Eradication Commission (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi/KPK) (81%). The negative 

view of constituents as the main consumers of political parties is reflected in their opinions about 

political parties or politicians. One of socio-cultural observers in Malang stated: 

“In Malang some time ago, there was corruption done in congregation, I was ashamed, because one of 

them was my protege, her name was Nanda. That’s an example; it turns out that they don’t have the traits 

of a statesman. This is due to the political party being in power for too long, its elites always set short 

goals. These short objectives are wrapped in various jargon of struggle, but their purpose is how to gather 

power and opportunity by doing corruption. The corruption case in Malang was a failure of political 

parties. Now when the young generation, millennial generation, is not interested in the political frenzy, 

they cannot be blamed”. 

So, three negative things that people often remember are that politicians often don’t keep promises; only 

care about personal and group interests; and like to talk about themselves or arrogant. 

The negation of the three negative things is a key condition of the creation of trust in a relational 

relationship. It is no wonder that the level of constituency trust will always be low for political parties. 

Consistently, various polls have also found that constituents feel they are not close to political parties, 

with a value between 15-20%. This will make it difficult for political parties to approach their 

constituents. The results of these polls are one of the reasons constituents change their choices in each 

election. The relationship created between constituents and political parties has been only a transactional 

relationship, and it will be quite difficult to move towards a relational relationship where trust from both 

parties is absolutely necessary. Good party management and political credibility greatly influence the 

level of constituents’ trust in them. These two things have not been seen in the political context in 

Indonesia. The wearing down of the constituents’ trust in political parties which is still experiencing 

internal conflicts will naturally occur. This will continue as long as political parties do not try to regain 

the confidence of their constituents.  

“This is a result of political parties forgetting too long their obligations to carry out political 

communication and education to their constituents,” urged a research informant. 

The phenomenon as stated above ultimately makes the life of political parties encourage the 

strengthening of democratic practices elitist. This practice is more directed at political parties becoming 

office-seeking parties that are influenced by the tendency to gain power. This is possible because 

positions in government offer incentives to accumulate financial resources through rent seeking. The 

social basis of the masses can be ignored and party ideology can be set aside. This elitist practice of 

democracy by Mack (2010, pp. 6-7) on one hand is called leadership failure and on the other hand as a 

form of alienation from the core base that causes disalignment in political parties. 



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3.2 The Regulatory Aspects of the General Election and the Decline in the Image of Political Parties 

Amendment of the rules as referred to in article 56 paragraph (2) of the Law of the Republic of 

Indonesia Number 32 of 2004 to become articles 56-59 of RI Law 8 of 2012 concerning General 

Elections lies in the addition of parties from outside political parties that are given the right and given 

the authority to propose themselves and or propose individuals to nominate as pairs of candidates for 

regional head. Through articles 56-59 of Law Number 8 of 2012, the state responds to the public’s 

desire to continue to use an open proportional system, a system in which the determination of 

legislative candidates is based on the mechanism of majority votes. This system has been used since the 

2009 general election, after the previous article governing the closed proportional system based on the 

serial number in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 10 of 2008 through judicial review was 

declared invalid by the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi/MK). In its consideration, the 

Constitutional Court stated that the determination of legislative candidates based on serial number was 

not in accordance with the substance of people’s sovereignty as regulated in article 27 Paragraph 1, 

Article 28 D Paragraph 1, Article 28 D Paragraph 3, and Article 28 I Paragraph 2 of the 1945 

Constitution. Politics the law on the 2009, 2014 and 2019 general election system at least indicates that 

the state hopes that by removing the nomination of legislative candidates based on the serial number, it 

will provide equal opportunity and treatment to all legislative candidates in contesting in the 2014 

legislative elections and beyond. All contestants can carry out fair competition in building popularity 

and electability before the voting audience. 

Through the amendment of article 59 of Law Number 32 of 2004 to article 59 of Law Number 12 of 

2008, it clearly shows that political parties are no longer the sole party that has the right and authority 

to propose candidates for regional head candidates in the election of regional heads. This change in its 

development then certainly had an impact on the reduced role of the party on the one hand and 

increased opportunities for the role of the community on the other hand in the process of proposing 

pairs of candidates for regional head. 

Pursuant to Law Number 8 of 2012 concerning General Elections of Members of the People’s 

Legislative Assembly, Regional Representatives Council, and Regional People’s Representative 

Council, specifically in 5 paragraph (1) the rules regarding the electoral system for DPR, Provincial 

DPRD and Regency / City DPRD members. Article 5 paragraph (1) stipulates that elections to elect 

members of the DPR, the provincial DPRD and the regency / city DPRD shall be conducted using an 

open proportional system. Then in article 7 it is also emphasized that participants in the General 

Election to elect DPR, provincial DPRD and regency / city DPRD members are political parties. The 

operationalization of the open proportional system in the voting process for the election of members of 

the DPR, Provincial DPRD and Regency / City DPRD, is clearly regulated in article 154 which 

stipulates that the voting for the election of members of the DPR, DPD, provincial DPRD, and regency 

/ city DPRD is conducted by cast a single vote on the number or image mark of a political party and / 

or the name of the candidate on the ballot. 



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However, the most crucial thing in setting the open proportional system is in the process of determining 

the elected candidates for members of the DPR, Provincial DPRD, and Regency / City DPRD. For this 

reason, article 215 of Law Number 8 of 2012 concerning General Elections of Members of the DPR, 

DPR and DPRD regulates this matter in detail. The full article 215 states as follows: 

The determination of elected candidates for members of the DPR, provincial DPRD, and regency / city 

DPRD from Election Contesting Political Parties is based on the acquisition of seats of Election 

Contesting Political Parties in an electoral district with the following conditions. 

a. Elected candidates for members of the DPR, the provincial DPRD and the regency / city DPRD are 

determined based on the candidate who receives the most votes. 

b. In the event that there are two or more candidates who fulfil the provisions as referred to in letter a 

with the same vote acquisition, the determination of the elected candidates is determined based on the 

distribution of the vote acquisition of the candidates in the constituency taking into account women’s 

representation. 

c. In the case of candidates who meet the conditions referred to in letter a, the number is less than the 

number of seats obtained by the Election Contesting Political Parties, the undivided seats are given to 

the candidates based on the subsequent acquisition of the most votes. This clause in article 215 points a, 

b, c, empirically has a very large consequence on the views and attitudes of the constituents of political 

parties and the public over political parties. In a number of cases the phenomenon emerged that during 

the election voters were more likely to vote for a candidate’s name than to vote for a political party. 

Various provisions with all kinds of changes regulated in Laws on Political Parties, Laws on General 

Elections, as well as Regional Government Laws and Decisions handed down by the Constitutional 

Court of the Republic of Indonesia relating to the holding of elections have clearly had an impact on 

the life and role political parties. The rules of the proportional system are open and the rules that open 

up opportunities for individual candidates in presidential and regional head elections seem to be clearly 

more personable than the role of political parties. This fact reinforces the opinion of Mack (2010, p. 7) 

that the electoral system is one of the preconditions that causes disalignment of political parties. 

 

4. Conclusion 

To overcome the decline of political party’s prestige, thus, requires internal and external solutions. On the 

internal side, transactional politics and wild political party oligarchies are the effects of an open 

proportional system that has major implications for liquid or fading ideology, so that constituent ties with 

political parties become very loose. Political parties, in turn, tend to be fragmented and easily fragmented. 

Even further than that, virtue, integrity, especially attitudes prioritizing the public interest are almost no 

longer visible. Therefore political parties must have the courage to change their perspective to 

immediately rebuild a party ideology, something far more valuable than power and money. In this 

ideology, in addition to the people’s ideals and state ideas that must be fought for, the soul bond between 

political parties and their constituents is also linked. By re-holding and building the ideology of 



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politicians, political parties will be more demanded to politic by upholding ethics and morals, politically 

politic to be more beneficial to society. 

On the external side, given the widespread practice of pragmatic and transactional politics in the context 

of legislative elections is the implication of an open proportional system, it needs to be reconsidered to 

return to a closed proportional system. Transactional political practices are also rampant since the 

implementation of the direct election system for regional heads at the provincial and district / city levels. 

Therefore it is better if the regional head election system at both levels of the regional government is 

handed back to the DPRD according to their respective levels. Indeed, this step raises fears of a 

strengthened oligarchy (elite) of political parties if a closed proportional system again applies to 

legislative elections, and an indirect electoral system in regional elections. However, a number of studies 

say that the implementation of an open proportional system and the direct election system for regional 

heads are more disadvantageous than the possibility of the practice of oligarchy (elite) political parties in 

the administration of democracy. 

4.1 Suggestion 

Referring to the above research conclusions, suggestions can be made regarding the strengthening of 

political parties. Internally, political parties must strive to avoid transactional politics and oligarchy of 

political parties, political parties must also return to the ideological basis that forms a bond between 

political parties and their constituents. Externally, the rules that establish an open proportional system 

in the general elections of legislative members and the rules that stipulate the system of electing the 

regional head directly must be changed, because this system in practice actually further alienates 

political parties from constituents. In elections, constituents tend to look more at candidate figures than 

at the political parties that nominate them. 

 

Acknowledges 

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding of the Directorate of Research and Community 

Service, Directorate General for Research and Development at the Ministry of Research, Technology 

and Higher Education, Indonesia No.: 229/SP2H/LT/DRPM/2019, 19th February 2019, which made a 

portion of this research possible. 

 

ORCID 

Budhy Prianto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1941-1446 

 

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