ATTITUDE-BASED COALITION TOWARDS POLICY-DRIVEN POLICIES "COALITION: EIGHT PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES AND AN OPEN PROPORTIONAL SYSTEM IN THE 2024 ELECTIONS

ABSTRACT


Introduction
The emergence of the term democracy which historically came from Ancient Greek civilization with all the values and principles in it in today's context has been widely used as a reference by people in various countries (Felicia, 2022). One of them is related to the existence of a general election mechanism (election). The definition of elections contained in Law Number 7 of 2017, then explains it as a means of people's sovereignty to elect members of the People's Representative Council (DPR), Regional Representative Council (DPD), President and Vice President as well as the Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) which is carried out directly, publicly, freely, secretly, honestly and fairly within the framework of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution (Yasin, 2017). Through the holding of elections, people living under the nature of democracy can then make it a means to actively participate in the process of determining the leadership formed (Paryono, Absori, & Muinudinillah, 2020). Meanwhile, elections themselves are intended as a means to realize the circulation of power periodically. The reason is, this is done to avoid a tendency that occurred in previous times, where power was relatively centralized only to a few certain parties. For this reason, every country in reality then seeks to formulate an electoral system that suits the pattern of life of its people, including Indonesia (Husain, Ambotuo, & Hamid, 2020).
In this case, the electoral system can be understood as a mechanism to select decision-makers when the existence of the community becomes too large for every citizen to be involved in any decision-making process that affects the community. On the other hand, the electoral system can also be interpreted as translating votes into seats won in parliament by political parties and candidates (Kodiyat, 2019). The use of the electoral system itself essentially then has several objectives, namely as an instrument to select decision-makers, a channel for accountability of people's representatives to the people or vice versa, and an arena to limit future political discourse or agenda (Haboddin, 2016). Meanwhile, the use of the electoral system in Indonesia has historically undergone several changes and developments from each period of government. In this case, Indonesia itself has successfully held elections 12 times, namely in 195512 times, namely in , 197112 times, namely in , 197712 times, namely in , 198212 times, namely in , 198712 times, namely in , 199212 times, namely in , 199712 times, namely in , 199912 times, namely in , 200412 times, namely in , 200912 times, namely in , 201412 times, namely in , and 201912 times, namely in (Pardede, 2014. However, in the 2019 election, for the first time, Indonesia then used an electoral system simultaneously between legislative elections and presidential and vice presidential elections. However, the electoral system for legislative elections still uses a proportional system using open lists. The proportional system itself is defined as an electoral system that translates the votes obtained by political parties into seats in parliament according to the number of votes achieved (Muhtadin, 2023). Meanwhile, the open list is interpreted as a list containing candidates for legislative members submitted by each political party in the election in order of sequence number. As a result, voters (the public) are allowed to directly elect candidates for the legislature they want. Meanwhile, political parties will get the number of seats in parliament according to the number of votes they get in the election. Meanwhile, to explain the aspects of the electoral system in Indonesia in the simultaneous elections in 2019 more specifically, can be seen in Table 1 below.  Furthermore, the issue that will then be focused on in this journal refers to the discourse to restore the electoral system using the closed list as has been applied in the past. The emergence of the discourse itself began with the filing of a judicial review lawsuit against the application of the open proportional system mandated in Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning General Elections to the Constitutional Court by several parties which were then registered with case number 114/PUU-XX/2022 on November 16, 2022. Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)-Struggle is listed as the only parliamentary political party that supports the discourse. While on the other hand, eight parliamentary political parties met and then produced a joint statement consisting of five things, namely rejecting the application of a closed proportional system, considering the application of an open proportional system as the right choice because it was considered to be by the Constitutional Court decision Number 22-24 / PUUVI / 2008 and considered the ongoing lawsuit as a bad precedent, Calling on the General Elections Commission (KPU) to continue to carry out its duties as an election organizer by maintaining its neutrality and independence, appreciating the government for preparing the budget for the 2024 elections and committing to compete healthily and peacefully while maintaining the unity and unity of the nation and for maintaining political, security and economic stability.
According to those who support the discourse to return the electoral system to a closed list, the system makes elections simpler and also more economical. The counting of votes can be faster and more practical, which can avoid many casualties if KPPS officers are like in the 2019 election. With this system, cadres in the party will run well and there will be no conflicts between internal candidates fighting for votes with their friends. However, behind this scientific explanation, there is another big goal they are aiming for, which is to maintain the current great electability. With a closed proportional system, the possibility of other parties taking their voting pockets becomes closed. Because other parties can no longer use vote-getters. Proponents of open-list proportional electoral systems argue that closed proportional systems are not transparent, like buying cats in sacks. The sovereignty of the people to directly elect their representatives is neglected. Thus, they united to maintain an open proportional system. Their argument is sweet and rational. However, what they want to achieve is not simply direct democracy that continues to be maintained. On the other hand, they have a big goal, which may be bigger than the goal of democracy, which is the interest of getting as many votes as possible in the 2024 elections. The reason is, with a closed proportional system, they can no longer rely on popular candidates such as celebrities, former regional heads, and also community leaders, to gain votes. Especially in previous elections, they used these popular people as vote getters. As a result, although in previous surveys their electability was low, during the election their votes were high. With this democratic wrapper, they also seem to ignore the negative effects of open proportionality such as brutal competition within the party to the flood of money politics practices in society. Therefore, this journal wants to review in more depth the phenomenon of the coalition of eight parliamentary political parties that support the implementation of the open-list proportional election system and at the same time see how the political process and dynamics that develop by relating it to parties who support the implementation of the closed-list proportional election system.
The perspective referred to is derived from the view of William Gamson where a coalition is understood as an agreement involving two or more social units who then use all the resources at their disposal to achieve a common goal or interest. This at least shows that in a coalition, dimensions such as agreement, resource utilization and common interests are closely related (Boix, Stokes, & Asnawi, 2021). In addition, other things that later contributed to the formation of a coalition were at least explained by Gamson through four factors. However, this study only refers to three factors because non-utilitarian strategy factors based on aspects of likes and dislikes, ideologies, beliefs, emotional factors and so on are not relevant if they are also associated with the theory of rational choice and office-seeking used in this study.

Research Methods
In data collection, this study uses qualitative research methods, which when referring to the views of John W. Creswell can be understood as a method in scientific research aimed at exploring problems related to human life and social aspects, so that it is not biased with the generalization process that usually occurs in other research methods.

Results and Discussion
Eight political parties that have seats in the People's Representative Council (DPR) have expressed a firm stance against the closed proportional election system that is being submitted to the Constitutional Court. The closed proportional system allows voters to vote only for parties instead of legislative candidates as has been implemented in the 2009, 2014, and 2019 elections (Khairunnisa & Fatimah, 2023). The rejection attitude was conveyed jointly in a meeting held at Dharmawangsa Hotel, South Jakarta, on Sunday (8/1). Of the nine parliamentary parties, only the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle expressed support for a closed proportional electoral system. "We 8 political parties are united for the sovereignty of the people. Of course, this meeting is not the first meeting, but it was agreed that this meeting will be continued periodically, to control the attitude of this political party, "said Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto after the meeting. Present at the meeting were National Awakening Party Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, Prosperous Justice Party President Ahmad Syaikhu, Democratic Party Chairman Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY), and National Mandate Party Chairman Zulkifli Hasan. NasDem Party Chairman Surya Paloh was absent and was represented by Secretary General Johnny G Plate and Waketum Ahmad Ali. Likewise, Acting PPP Ketum Muhammad Mardiono was not present represented by Waketum Amir Uskara. Meanwhile, Ketum Gerindra Prabowo Subianto and the Gerindra elite were not present. However, Airlangga said, the Gerindra Party agreed with the agreement of the 7 political parties present.
According to Airlangga, there were five points of agreement agreed by party leaders. First, they reject the closed proportional system and commit to maintaining democratic progress in Indonesia that has been carried out since the reform era (Budiatri et al., 2018). The closed proportional electoral system is a setback for democracy. On the other hand, the open proportional election system is a manifestation of democracy based on people's sovereignty, where the people can determine the candidates for legislative members nominated by political parties (Kansil & Haga, 2023). We don't want democracy to go backward," Airlangga said. On the second point, 8 political parties agreed that an open proportional electoral system was the right choice. This system is also by the Constitutional Court decision Number 22-24 / PUU-VI / 2008 on December 23, 2008 (Katili & Latuda, 2022). "The open proportional system that has been implemented in three elections and a lawsuit against jurisprudence will set a bad precedent for Indonesian law and is not in line with the principle of nebs in idem," Airlangga said. Third, the KPU continues to carry out its duties as an election organizer by maintaining its neutrality and independence by laws and regulations (Saufiah, 2022). The fourth point, eight political parties appreciated the government for budgeting the 2024 election budget and for election organizers, especially the KPU to continue to carry out the stages of the 2024 election as mutually agreed. "Fifth, we are committed to competing in the 2024 elections healthily and peacefully while maintaining the unity and unity of the nation to maintain political, security, and economic stability," Airlangga said. Responding to the closed electoral system, AHY said from the beginning the Democratic Party rejected the closed proportional system because it deprived the people of their rights. Closed elections, according to him, are like bringing back elections by choosing cats in sacks. "I want to underline, first do not let any people's rights in this democratic life be taken away, if there is a closed election, then the people cannot directly elect their representatives," AHY said after the meeting. He also hopes that the proportional open system can continue to be implemented by the current law. AHY also said that a closed proportional system or voting for party names could certainly undermine the enthusiasm of cadres.
On the other hand, Executive Director of the Institute for Democracy and Strategic Affairs (Indostrategic) Ahmad Khoirul Umam said the resistance was directed at operations to restore the closed proportional system. "The move by eight factions in Senayan that are compact to reject the implementation of a closed proportional system is a form of open resistance to the operation of returning a centralized system of power," Umam told Kompas.com, Monday (01/09/2023). As for what is meant by a closed proportional system, political parties submit a list of candidates arranged by sequence number. Later, the sequence number will be determined by political parties. Through a closed proportional system, each political party provides a list of candidates with several more than the number of seats allocated to one constituency (Dapil). In the process of voting with a closed proportional system, voters only choose political parties. On that basis, eight political parties flatly refused. The eight political parties include Golkar Party, Gerindra, Nasdem, National Awakening Party (PKB), Democrats, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), National Mandate Party (PAN), and United Development Party (PPP). On the other hand, the discourse of a closed proportional system has paved the way for some government and opposition political parties to express the same rejection stance. Of all the opponents, PKS and Democrats have the status of government opposition groups who now have the same attitude, namely both reject the discourse of a closed proportional system being realized. According to Umam, the urgency of the closed proportional system succeeded in consolidating government and opposition political parties to unite against the forces that support the discourse.
In addition, Umam also considered that the rejection of these eight political parties could present public pressure or political pressure on the political-legal operations that are running to realize a closed proportional system. However, he said, the similarity of attitudes would be easily broken and attacked if the commitment of the eight political parties was not solid. In the end, the agreement of eight political parties on the rejection of a closed proportional system could fail miserably. At this point, Umam said, the independence of the Constitutional Court (MK) and the solidity of the eight political parties are at stake. "If the Constitutional Court's ruling can be hijacked by the appetite for power, then the Constitutional Court's ruling comes out in February 2023 for example, then it will disrupt all stages, preparations, and internal strategies of political parties towards the 2024 elections," said Umam. Umam also explained that the implementation of an open proportional system is a step to modernize the party system. An open proportional system is considered to have the essence that the people must understand whom their representatives are sitting in parliamentary seats. Thus, legislators are required to be truly representative and can be evaluated by their voters. "That is, a closed proportional system will only deprive the people of the right to have their representatives accountable," he stressed.
The rolling issue of a closed proportional system to be applied to the 2024 election began with the steps of six people who filed a lawsuit for judicial review of Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections to the Constitutional Court. This lawsuit has been registered in the Constitutional Court with case number 114/PUU-XX/2022. The six plaintiffs are Demas Brian Wicaksono (applicant I), Yuwono Pintadi (applicant II), Fahrurrozi (applicant III), Ibnu Rachman Jaya (applicant IV), Riyanto (applicant V), and Nono Marijono (applicant VI). The petitioners filed a lawsuit against Article 168 paragraph (2) of Law Number 7 of 2017. The article stipulates that the election of members of the DPR, provincial DPRD, and district/city DPRD is carried out with an open proportional system. From this lawsuit, the petitioners asked the Constitutional Court to replace the open proportional system which is considered contrary to the 1945 Constitution and has caused multidimensional problems such as money politics. For this reason, the petitioners want the Constitutional Court to be able to replace the open proportional system with a closed proportional system. Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto stated that the open proportional system that has been implemented since the 2004 election is one form of Indonesian democracy. "Where the people can determine the candidates for legislative members nominated by political parties, we don't want democracy to go backward!" said Airlangga when conveying his rejection attitude with several other political parties at the Dharmawangsa Hotel, South Jakarta, Jakarta, Sunday (01/08/2023). Meanwhile, Chairman of the Democratic Party Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) said the discourse of replacing the open-to-closed proportional system was like buying a cat in a sack. According to him, a closed proportional system will deprive the people of their right to choose candidates for legislative members. This is because voters can only vote for political parties and cannot choose candidates for legislative members who will sit in Parliament. "Do not let any people's rights in this democracy be taken away," AHY said in the same place. "If there is a closed electoral system, then the people cannot directly elect their representatives. Even though we want everyone to exercise their rights and not like buying a cat in a sack," said AHY.
In addition, President Joko Widodo or Jokowi is rumored to have given directions to the Constitutional Court abbreviated as MK so that elections are decided with a Demas said the open proportional system is ugly. He gave an example, candidates for legislators of one party will follow each other to get the most votes. In addition, there is a high possibility of money politics. He said experienced cadres are often defeated by cadres with popularity and large capital. "Experienced party cadres often lose to candidates who have popularity and large capital," Demas told Tempo on Thursday, January 12, 2023.
Furthermore, to agree to reject the closed proportional system proposed by PDIP, eight DPR faction parties then held a meeting at Dharmawangsa Hotel, South Jakarta, Sunday, January 8. They are the Democratic Party, Justice and Welfare Party or PKS, NasDem Party, United Development Party or PPP, Golkar Party, Gerindra Party (absent but expressed stance), National Awakening Party or PKB, and National Mandate Party or PAN. Here are some statements from eight parties that expressed their opposition to closed proportional elections, summarized by Tempo. co.

Golkar Party
After the meeting, Chairman Airlangga Hartarto read out five points of agreement from political party leaders. Expressing opposition to the closed proportional system, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy reflected. "Blackpink's Lisa went home on a kopaja until the house immediately washed the rice," Airlangga said. "That's why to use an open proportional system because people's choice is a priority." 2. MCC Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) president Ahmad Syaikhu said his party along with seven other parliamentary parties remained in its stance of rejecting the closed proportional system. He even said that PKS had submitted itself to the Constitutional Court as a Related Party in the lawsuit for judicial review of the Election Law." If it is necessary to go to the President, we will be together. These 8 parties will remain together," Syaikhu said at the DPP PKS Office, South Jakarta, Friday, January 20, 2023.

Democratic
The Jakarta Democratic Party's Legal and Security Agency (BHPP) asked the Constitutional Court to reject the request for judicial review of the Election Law. According to the party led by Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono aka AHY, closed proportionality makes the public do not know the quality of legislative members. Because it is the political party that determines who sits as a representative of the people. This is feared to strengthen the dominance of political party elites in determining people's representatives. "The closed proportional system is like buying a cat in a sack because the decisive thing is the political party," said the Head of the Jakarta Democratic BHPP, Yunus Adhi Prabowo, Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

NasDem Party
The Central Leadership Council or DPP of the NasDem Party firmly rejects changes to the closed proportional electoral system. This refusal is evidenced by NasDem's attitude to submit itself as a Related Party in a lawsuit for judicial review of the Election Law. The application for NasDem as a Related Party was represented by Hermawi Taslim as Deputy Secretary General of the NasDem Party and Secretary of the Regional Leadership Council (DPW) of the DKI Jakarta NasDem Party Wibi Andrino who is also a member of the DKI Jakarta Provincial DPRD. 5. PAN PAN Secretary General Eddy Soeparno responded to the issue that Jokowi had given directions to the Constitutional Court so that the election was decided with a closed proportional system. He emphasized that PAN rejected closed proportionality and wanted elections to use the previous system, open proportional. "We reiterate, yes, that we want the election to remain an open proportional system because that is the will of democracy that we have implemented for several periods," Eddy said when met after attending the PPP Harlah at ICE BSD Tangerang, Friday, February 17, 2023. 1. PKB PKB Chairman Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar aka Cak Imin also emphasized that his party rejects the discourse of a closed proportional system in the upcoming 2024 elections. "PKB is in a position to reject (the closed proportional system)," he said, on the sidelines of the Child Protection Petition Signing event held in front of Sarinah Building, Central Jakarta, Sunday, January 8, 2023. His party considered that the closed proportional system cut the competition rights of election participants. Moreover, he continued, the determination to change the open proportional system to a closed proportional was carried out in a short period before the election was held. "Time is already very short, cutting the right of democratic competition. If closed proportionality is chosen four years before the election, it may be normal, but this is one year before the election," he said. As quoted by ANTARA.

PPP
PPP Deputy Chairman Arsul Sani emphasized that his party was still the same as the agreement of seven parliamentary political parties. That is to reject the closed proportional election system. Arsul denied reports that his party had changed its stance in favor of closed proportionality. "What is clear is that because the material is currently being tested in the Constitutional Court and PPP together with seven other factions have expressed their views (rejecting closed proportionality)," said Arsul, Monday, February 20, 2023.

Gerindra Party
The Gerindra Party also firmly rejected the closed proportional system applied in elections. Although not present in person at the meeting of eight chairmen of political parties, the Gerindra Party supports the use of an open proportional system. "Our Ketum (Prabowo Subianto), in the inauguration of the Office of the Presidential Election Winning Body has also conveyed the same thing, that Gerindra for the principle of justice and openness also refuses closed proportionality because let the people choose their representatives, not parties," Gerindra Party Daily Chairman, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told reporters on Monday, January 9, 2023.

Conclusion
Based on the findings obtained, it can be concluded that the coalition established between the eight parliamentary political parties is based on the calculation factor of each political party which considers that the application of an open proportional system tends to be more rational, provides benefits and is considered more effective in helping efforts to win the 2024 election. In addition, the formation of a coalition between eight parliamentary political parties in rejecting the change in the electoral system from being originally open proportional to re-implementing closed proportional is also inseparable from the three factors that determine a coalition as proposed by William Gamson. First, the initial distribution of resources factor in which all coalition participants will calculate opportunities that are considered more rational to take by tending to favor those who are seen as having the largest or most decisive resources. Second, the reward factor is obtained where coalition participants will calculate the choice of the coalition that is considered to provide the maximum return or benefit. While the last is the decision point factor (decision point) which is considered the most effective based on the strength of the resources owned by each coalition participant.