Human Security in The Age of Electoral Democracy: Politico-Business Alliances in The Malang Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

This study discusses the politico-business configuration of electoral democracy and its impact on human security in Malang. Indonesia's reforms in the post-Soeharto era marked by implementing new institutions of democracy through direct local elections (Pilkada), where people acquire their rights to directly determine their executive leader at both national and regional levels. Democracy institution is believed would naturally lead to greater human security. However, evidence -from the cases experienced in Malang- reveals a different result. The introduction of democratic institutions harmed human security because predatory alliances hijacked it. Liberal space as well as the opening up of elite competitions, provided by democracy, interfered with local politics. Both local politics and economic spheres were dominated by political and business elite coalitions. Also, the sustainability of good governance and democratic institutions tends to be dictated by the interests of these predatory elite alliances. Although there have been abundant studies on Indonesia’s democratization and decentralization, the problem of human security in the democratization process has rarely been conducted. This study, therefore, aims to reveal the practice of politico- business alliances in Malang that take over public resources and local budgets for their interests through the democratic institution. The significance of this study is an empirical contribution to develop an understanding of the process of how democratic institutions are hijacked by a few people (local elites) by seizing regional resources and sacrificing human security. Keywords: electoral democracy, human security, politico-business alliance, Malang Regency