Political Kinship Networking in Bantanese Local Election
tunjung sulaksono2019, Proceedings of the 1st Aceh Global Conference (AGC 2018)
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Abstract
The phenomenon of the proliferation of political practices of kinship networking in Indonesia in the reform era has attracted the authors to conduct the research. It, theoretically, has the potential to endanger democracy due to the different treatment for competing political actors' opportunities, as well as undermine the party's internal mechanisms in recruiting candidates for public officials. The location of this research is Banten Province, where the phenomenon of kinship is very massive happened. The aims of the research are to explore: (1) the history of political dynastic involvement in Local Elections, (2) the factors drive the political dynasty actors to enter the political sphere; (3) the background of the political dynasties involved in the Local Election; (4) the function of political party recruitment in the Local Election, and (5) the instruments are utilized by political dynasty's candidates in the Local Election. The type of research is qualitative, using FGD, interview, and documentation study for collecting data, which will be analyzed using the triangulation method. The results show that democratization and decentralization policy have been the key point for the actors of political kinship network to involve. In addition, The mastery of the economic base became the main driver of the dynastic political actors, so that most of the actors were entrepreneurs. Meanwhile the functions of the party in recruitment are ineffective. Finally, the instruments frequently used by the political kinship network actors are money politics, kinship networks, and the use of mass organizations as a means of voters mobilization Keywords-political kinship network; local election; Banten I. INTRODUCTION Elections are often positioned as the main precondition of democracy due to its close relationship. Obviously, there is no democratic country that does not run elections on a regular basis. Elections become links that help to realize the idea of Government of the people, by the people and for the people as the normative meaning of democracy. Not just as an arena to express the freedom of the people in electing their leaders, elections are also a mechanism to appreciate the performance of leaders. Through elections, voters are able to assess whether the elected government and or elected representative institutions will be deserved to be re-elected or even need to be replaced due to their lack of capacity to execute the mandate of the people. No wonder if elections occupy a central position in a democratic order. Unfortunately, in many consolidating democracies elections are often hijacked and used as instruments of personal and/or group interests. One of the phenomena that is often considered to plow democracy is the existence of dynastic politics or kinship network. If the former pure political dynasty depended particularly on the status of nobility and politics, then the recent political dynasty plays over the arena of democracy. It proved that the dynasty was able to fight in any political weather. Political dynasty actors will continue to play in any political system because their glue is access to state resources. Dynasties can live in both authoritarian and democratic systems (Muhtadi, 2013). Many political dynasties and kinship networks in Indonesia use the election to rule, as is the case in Banten and South Sulawesi. The facts above show that the political network of kinship will not be destroyed only because of legal regulation. Sociological and historical factors become important, especially since there will be other networks ready to replace the dynastic outcast. One thing that can guarantee a fair competition in politics (or business) is if the bureaucracy that guards the political selection process (or economy) is professional, transparent and accountable (Vishnu, 2013). Pablo Querubin (2011: 2) defines the political dynasty as' a form of long elite mastery when a family or some monopolizes political power. Instead, he linked political dynasties in the Philippines in the framework of democracy, and so he criticized the policy of job restrictions that still had a gap for the political dynasty to remain in power. Querubin also attributed the continuity of political dynasties in the Philippines to the effects of incumbency. Various politically motivated killings in the Philippines witness how the political dynasty used various means to perpetuate its power by utilizing the existence of elections. Family descendants of politicians generally believe that public office is a birthright and is inherited (Tuazon, 2013). But in many countries, the political dynasty is legalized through the election process.
