The Department of Political and Governance Sciences, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP), Diponegoro University (UNDIP) held a public lecture on the theme of Informal Traps in Indonesian Democracy on Monday (31/7) last week.
Prof. Ward Berenschot, professor of Political Anthropology, University of Amsterdam and senior researcher at KITLV Leiden, Dr. Fitriyah (Lecturer at the Department of Political and Governance Sciences FISIP Undip and Wijayanto, Ph.D. (Lecturer at the Department of Political and Governance Sciences FISIP Undip were present as resource persons. The discussion was led by Dr. Nur Hidayat Sardini (Chair of the Department of Political and Governance Sciences FISIP Undip), and the moderator is Dr. Bangkit Wiryawan (teacher of Communication Science FISIP Undip).
This public lecture presented a new approach to understanding the challenges facing governance and democracy in Indonesia as ‘collective action problems,’ a situation where every political actor seems to be “hostage” to something beyond their control. In the complicated issue of money politics, politicians feel that they have to practice buying and selling votes because voters are asking for it. Apart from that, they are also worried about losing the election, considering that their competitors are doing it. Voters feel they have to “ask” politicians for money or particular patronage ahead of the election because that is the only opportunity to get incentives in the democratic party. After the election is over, they will immediately forget their promise. Entrepreneurs feel the need to capitalize on politicians because they are worried that the policies of elected politicians will harm them without this “kickback.” (LW – Public Relations)
