THE CONTRIBUTION OF DIRECT ELECTIONS FOR LOCAL LEADERS TO THE CORRUPTION IN INDONESIA: LESSONS LEARNED FROM INDONESIAN DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM

Abstract

The paper discusses direct elections of local government leaders that have contributed to the
corruption in Indonesia and focuses on the quality of electoral process. This study aimed at
identifying the contribution of direct elections of local leaders on corrupt practices in Indonesia.
It applied a quantitative research method and involved 85 provincial, district and city areas as
samples in the Indonesian islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara,
Maluku and Papua. The study proves that direct local elections have significant effects on
corruption committed by the heads of district government. Both process and quality of direct
local elections has jointly demonstrated a meaningful and significant effect on the corruption by
local leaders. Thus, the better quality and process will immediately lower the corruption rate. In
contrast, the lower quality and process will contribute to a higher corruption rate. Partially, the
influence of the local election process is more powerful than the quality of direct local elections,
since direct local election process requires the government to spend a vast amount of funding on
the preparation, implementation, validation and the inauguration of the elect local government
leaders. This study only involved 85 areas that have organized direct local elections. A further
study should be expanded to more sample areas in order to collect more data that can complete
the current research findings.
Keywords: Direct local elections, corruption, local government leaders, district, city.