The appointments aim to fill regional leadership posts, whose terms end in 2022 and 2023, yet regional executive elections would proceed during the simultaneous elections only in 2024, he remarked.
"We are concerned by this issue, as the tenets of democracy guarantee residents have their say to determine their preferred regional leaders," Tryatmoko stated during a webinar on Indonesian politics on Tuesday.
Regional leaders elected by the people have a stronger mandate, as most residents have indicated their support for the elected leader during the election, and consequently, regional leaders' efforts in gathering the residents' support will be less laborious, the researcher remarked.
As the central government decided to delay regional elections, initially set for 2022 and 2023, to 2024 -- allowing for concurrence with national elections -- regional leaderships, whose terms ended before 2024, will be filled by acting leaders appointed by the central government to bridge the gap before regional elections, he noted.
"Around 272 regional leaders will be replaced by acting leaders, and the problem will become more complicated if acting leaderships are to be filled by active military or police officers for around two and three years," Tryatmoko noted.
Concurring with the researcher, University of Indonesia's Social and Political Science Faculty academic Valina Singka Subekti cautioned that the appointment of active military or police officers as acting regional leaders must be scrutinized thoroughly.
The university academic highlighted that the public concern was mostly the threat of the military dual function's silent return -- a New Order doctrine that justifies active military involvement in national politics and other national sectors -- if the central government proceeds to appoint military officers as acting regional leaders.
"The military dual function has been an obsolete doctrine. Hence, the possible involvement of the military in the acting regional leadership issue must be scrutinized," Subekti stated.
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Translator: Putu Indah S, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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