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Political Parties and the Power of Money in Indonesia and Beyond

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2015

Thomas Reuter
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Abstract

Political parties in Indonesia and in other parts of Southeast Asia have become vitally dependent on the financial support of individuals or conglomerates with large private fortunes. A remarkable new development is that some of the billionaires who have long sponsored political parties have decided to out themselves as political leaders, and thus to adopt the style of oligarchs. I define an oligarchy as a society featuring systematic conflation of political and economic power within the same individuals or within small, elite groups of such individuals in a manner that is visible, tolerated and hence legitimated. The gradual shift from clandestine money politics to open oligarchy is a significant challenge for contemporary liberal democracies. Conflicts of interest between the demands of public office and their private interests would seem difficult to avoid for politicians who also run large business empires and own great estates. On the other hand, for billionaire sponsors of political parties to come forward and stand for public office personally also means that their hitherto clandestine influence is becoming more transparent, and their conduct and decisions more subject to public scrutiny and accountability. This article describes how both direct and indirect ways of conducting money politics operate and coexist within different types of political parties in Indonesia today, what the significance of these differences is and what is changing; with special reference to the 2014 parliamentary elections in Indonesia.

Keywords

Oligarchspolitical partiesmoney politicsdemocracyIndonesia
Type
Articles
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , Volume 3 , Special Issue 2: Bequeathing Families , July 2015 , pp. 267 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © Institute of East Asian Studies, Sogang University 2015 

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