Ungaran–Bawen toll road

opened for public use

Ainur Rohmah, The Jakarta Post, Semarang | Archipelago | Sat, April 05 2014, 9:15 AM

Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto inaugurated on Friday the Ungaran–Bawen toll road,
section II of the Semarang–Surakarta toll road, which is expected to ease severe traffic
problems in the province. The 11.9-kilometer Ungaran– Bawen toll road will be opened to the
public for free for a week as a tryout. Djoko said the 75.8-kilometer Semarang–Surakarta toll
road passed through six regions, namely Semarang city, Semarang regency, Salatiga city,
Boyolali regency, Karanganyar regency and Sukoharjo regency. The development of the toll
road started in 2009 with a total investment of Rp 7 trillion (US$618 billion).
In total, the toll road comprises five sections: Semarang–Ungaran (section I), Ungaran–
Bawen (section II), Bawen–Salatiga (section III), Salatiga–Boyolali (section IV) and Boyolali–
Karanganyar (section V). Whole sections are initially scheduled to be completed in 2014, but so
far, only section II of the project has been completed. “How long will it take to finish the rest
depends on the land acquisition process,” Djoko said, asking the Central Java governor to help
speed up the land acquisition process.
 The operation of the Ungaran- Bawen toll road section received a warm welcome from the
Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Semarang regency branch. The association’s
chairman, Ari Prabono, expressed hope the operation of the Semarang-Surakarta toll road
would offer a solution to the traffic congestion. “Smooth transportation will also help the
economy not only in Semarang and Solo [as Surakarta is more commonly known] but in
surrounding regions,” said Ari.
Councilor Sasmito of the Central Java Legislative Council (DPRD) called on heavy vehicles
passing through the toll road not to exit the Ungaran toll gate as the road connecting the gate
and the highway, namely Jl. Letjen Suprapto, did not have the specification to be used by heavy
vehicles. He expressed hope the toll road management company, PT Trans Marga Jateng (TMJ),
would place signs calling on heavy vehicles to exit through the Bawen toll gate instead.
Meanwhile, criticism came from civil engineering lecturer Robert Kodoatie of Semarang
Diponegoro University, following the existence of groundwater basins in a number of spots
along the toll road that could lead to landslides. He suggested the water trapped in the basins
had to be directly channeled out.
Apart from the Semarang–Surakarta toll road, other toll roads are part of the Trans-Java toll
road located in Central Java region — the Pejagan-Pemalang, Pemalang-Batang, Batang-
Semarang and Surakarta-Mantingan toll roads. All are in the process of land acquisition. The
Trans-Java toll road connects Serang, Cirebon (West Java), Semarang, Bawen, Solo (Central
Java), Kertosono, Mojokerto and Surabaya (East Java).

My opinions about Ungaran-Bawen Toll:

 Can reduce traffic jam
 Make the travel between semarang-bawen faster
 Scenery around toll is very beautiful
 There are some parts of the road that has been cracked
 There are some parts of the road still work in progress
 Pemilu (General Election) 2014

Introduction
The Indonesian election is probably the
most complex electoral event globally:
Four million station officials in 550,000
polling stations across a country of 17,000
islands, manage 700 million ballot papers
in 2,450 different designs to get 19,700
candidates elected for one presidency and
532 legislatures at national and sub-
national level.
Indonesia has had three rounds of national elections since returning to democracy: 1999,
2004 and 2009. The quality of the 1999 and 2004 election operation progressed well, but a
major procurement scandal, subsequent dysfunctional legislation, and a challenged election
commission resulted in sub-standard 2009 elections - saved primarily by a convincing and
significant victory margin. On the backdrop of the 2009 election, the hopes, expectations and
risks for the upcoming 2014 elections are significant and the challenge to the 2,659 newly
appointed commissioners at national and sub-national level is herculean.
The elections for legislatures at national and sub-national level are scheduled for 9 April
2014. The Presidential election is expected to be in July 2014, with a second round, if needed,
expected in September. While Presidential and legislative elections happen every five years,
local elections for powerful executives on sub-national level happens in a staggered manner
throughout Indonesia all the time. There is always an imminent local election somewhere in
Indonesia.
In terms of the size of the electorate, the national election in Indonesia is the second
largest one-day election in the world - just behind the U.S. According to the national census
from April 2010, the current total population of Indonesia is 237.56 million. The voting age is
17 (on Election Day) or being married regardless of the age. The voter registry for 2014 election
is currently being prepared with the temporary voter list recording 187,977,268 voters. The
exact number of registered voters will be determined when the final voter list is established at
the national level on 23 October 2013.
 For the 2009 legislative elections, there were 171 million registered voters and 122 million
votes cast - a 71 percent turn-out rate - which is a drastic decline from the 93 percent turn-out
for legislative elections in 1999 and 84 percent in 2004, however, a decline is not unusual for
newly established democracies.

The Legal Framework

Indonesia is a representative republic whereby the President is both the head of state and
of government. The 1945 Constitution of Indonesia (Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik
Indonesia Tahun 1945 [UUD 1945]) is the foundation for the country’s system of government
and provides for a limited separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The fall of Soeharto in 1998 and the beginning of the Reformasi movement resulted in
significant amendments to the Constitution, which impacted all three branches of government,
added important human rights provisions and for the first time inserted the concept of
‘election’ into the constitution.
The legislative framework governing democratic representation is complex and involves six
laws:
 Law 15/2011 governing election management bodies
 Law 8/2012 governing legislative elections
 Law 42/2008 governing presidential elections
 Law 32/2004 governing regional administration (which includes local elections)
 Law 2/2011 governing political parties
 Law 27/2009 governing the structure of national and sub-national legislatures

Legislative Elections
On 9 April 2014 elections will take place for the national level legislatures and for sub-
national legislatures in 33 provinces and 497 regencies and municipalities.
At the national level there are two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia: the
House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR) and the Regional Representative
Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah/DPD). While the DPR is an existing body established by the
1945 Constitution, the DPD was formed in 2001 through an amendment to the Constitution in
a move towards bicameralism. However, only the DPR fully legislates while the DPD has a more
limited mandate. Together both chambers are referred to as the People’s Consultative
Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat/MPR). Representatives of both the DPR and DPD
are elected for a five-year term.
 The national DPR has a total of 560 representatives from 77 multi-member electoral
districts, with three to ten seats in each electoral district (depending on district population),
elected from political party lists through an open-list proportional representation (PR) system.
A “parliamentary threshold” of 3.5 percent applies only to the national level DPR, not to sub-
national legislatures. Each voter receives one DPR ballot listing all political parties and
candidates running in their electoral district. The voter then punches one or two holes to mark
one candidate or one political party or both (if punching two holes the political party chosen
must be the party of the candidate or the ballot is invalid).
The DPD has 132 representatives, four from each of 33 provinces. Independent candidates
from the respective provinces are elected through a single-non-transferable-vote system. Each
voter receives one DPD ballot listing all independent candidates running in their province. The
voter punches only one hole to mark the candidate of his/her choice. The four candidates with
the four highest vote totals in each province are elected.
DPRD Province (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Provinsi) are elected in 33 provinces,
each with between 35 and 100 members, depending on the population of the province. For
2014 legislative election, at the provincial level, there are 2,112 seats contested in 259 multi-
member constituencies with 3 to 12 seats each (depending on population). 497 DPRD
Regency/Municipality (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Kabupaten/Kota) are elected, each
with between 20 to 50 members, depending on population. Underneath the provincial level of
local government there are 410 regencies or kabupaten (generally rural) and 98 municipalities
or kota (generally urban) of which 497 will elect DPRD Regency/Municipality. For the 2014
legislative election, at the regency/municipality level, there are 16,895 seats in 2,102 multi-
member constituencies with 3 to 12 seats.
The representatives at national, provincial, and the regency/municipality levels are elected
for five-year terms on the same day, through the same PR open-list system as described for
DPR at the national level albeit without a threshold. In practice, this means the each voter in
Indonesia will receive four different ballots on 9 April 2014, one each for DPR, DPD, DPRD
Province and DPRD Regency/Municipality.
DPR Seat Allocation: In 2009 the seat allocation for DPR, DPRD Province and DPRD
Regency/Municipality was a complicated process that led to misallocation of seats and
embarrassing corrections. In the current legislative election law (8/2012), the seat allocation
process has been simplified into two stages. To allocate seats, General Election Commission
(KPU) will first determine the ‘quota’ (Bilangan Pembagi Pemilih/BPP) for each electoral district
(Daerah Pemilihan/Dapil). BPP is the total number of valid votes cast in the electoral district
divided by the total number of seats of the electoral district. A political party receives one seat
for each time their total number of votes received meets the BPP.
 For example, if the BPP is 1500 and Party A received 5000 votes, they will win three seats in
this first stage of calculation. In the second stage of calculation any remaining seats of the
electoral district are allocated to those political parties with the largest vote remainders (the
vote remainder equals the party’s total votes minus all votes used to secure seats in the first
stage allocation). For example: the BPP is 1500 in an electoral district with five seats being
competed by two political parties; Party A received 5000 votes and therefore won three seats
in stage one, Party B received 2500 votes and won one seat in stage one; Party A has 500
remaining votes and Party B has 1000 remaining votes; hence Party B receives the remaining
fifth seat in this second stage. Should political parties end up with the same vote remainder for
one remaining seat, the seat is given to the political party with the wider geographical
distribution of votes. Once the number of seats for each political party is determined, the seats
are filled by candidates who ran for the party in the electoral district and received the highest
number of votes. For the national level DPR and its 77 electoral districts, political parties that
receive less than 3.5 percent of the valid votes cast for the national DPR vote are excluded
from the seat allocation process. Such parties can still win seats in DPRD Province and DPRD
Regency/Municipality.
Gender Quota: During elections in 2004, the election law suggested that political parties
include 30 percent of women candidates in their lists. 14 out of the 24 contesting political
parties met the suggested quota resulting in DPR being seated with 11.6 percent of women and
DPD with 22 percent. In the 2009 legislative election, the gender quota regulation was slightly
stricter. Each running political party was required to submit a minimum of 30 percent women
candidates in the proposed candidate list, with at least one woman within every three
candidates listed from the top of the list (so called ‘zipper’ system). The 30 percent
requirement had non-binding administrative sanctions for non-compliance, while the zipper
system non-compliance had no sanctions attached. In 2009 election, 101 women were elected
to DPR, or 17.86 percent, (currently there are 103 female DPR representatives due to interim
replacement of legislators). For the 2014 election, Law 8/2012 maintains 30 percent quota in
the candidate lists and requires that at least one candidate in every three is a woman. Both
requirements now carry a binding sanction – i.e. political parties that do not meet the quota
will be disqualified from running in the electoral district where the quota is not met. During the
candidacy registration process at the KPU, all 12 national contesting parties met the
requirement. The temporary candidate list has 2,434 women and total of 6,576 candidates –
slightly over 37 percent.
 One woman being listed within every three candidates on the ballot does not provide any
guarantee on gender representation as the seats won by a political party will be allocated to
their candidates who receive the highest number of votes, regardless of gender. If Party A wins
three seats and their three candidates with the most votes are male, the political party will
have no female representative in that electoral district.

Presidential Elections
The President is the head of the executive branch and can be elected for a maximum of two
five-year terms. A political party or coalition of political parties that wins 25 percent of the vote
or wins at least 20 percent of the seats in the DPR can nominate candidates for President and
Vice President (running as a pair). Presidential election is therefore held shortly after legislative
elections in order to establish which political parties or coalitions are eligible to nominate a
presidential candidate. The President and the Vice-President are elected as a pair directly by
the people. The current President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was elected for his second and
last term in the first round of the 2009 election with 60.8 percent of the vote.
The Presidential election is expected to be in July 2014. The actual date will be set by the
election commission in the near future. If a presidential candidate does not reach absolute
majority in this first round, a second round run-off election between the two highest vote
getters would be held in September 2014.

Political Parties and Candidates

Indonesia has a multi-party system. According to the Human Rights Ministry’s records,
there are 73 political parties formally registered as institutions. However, Law 8/2012 requires
that each political party additionally undergoes a registration and verification process with the
national election commission to run in a given election. In 2009, there were 38 national
political parties and additional six Aceh political parties that competed in Aceh only. Nine
political parties won seats in DPR at the national level. After the 2009 election the nine political
parties amended the electoral laws and set a much higher bar for registering, competing and
winning in the election. Barriers, which are high by international standard, include that a
political party must have chapters in all 33 provinces (permanent office required), in at least 75
percent of the regencies/municipalities in each Province (permanent office required), and in at
least 50 percent of the districts within each regency/municipality (permanent office not
required). For the 2014 election 46 political parties pursued registration, but only twelve
national political parties and three local political parties (allowed to contest in Aceh only,
against national parties) succeeded and will now be on the ballots.
 They are listed below based on their contesting number with parenthetical information
about votes gained in 2009 elections, where applicable.
1. NasDem - National Democrat Party (new political party)
2. PKB - National Awakening Party (4.95 percent votes/27 DPR seats in 2009)
3. PKS - Justice and Prosperity Party (7.89 percent votes/57 DPR seats in 2009)
4. PDI-P - Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (14.01 percent votes/95 DPR seats
in 2009)
5. Golkar - Functional Group Party (14.45 votes/107 DPR seats in 2009)
6. Gerindra - Great Indonesia Movement Party (4.46 percent votes/26 DPR seats in
2009)
7. PD - Democratic Party (20.81 percent votes/150 DPR seats in 2009, party of the
current president)
8. PAN - National Mandate Party (6.03 percent/43 DPR seats in 2009)
9. PPP - United Development Party (5.33 percent votes/33 DPR seats in 2009)
10. Hanura - People’s Conscience Party (3.77 percent votes/18 DPR seats in 2009)
11. PDA - Aceh Peace Party (new political party, running in Aceh only)
12. PNA - Aceh National Party (new political party, running in Aceh only)
13. PA- Aceh Party (running in Aceh only; 43.9 percent votes/33 DPR Aceh Province
seats in 2009)
14. PBB - The Crescent and Star Party (no DPR seats in 2009)
15. PKPI - Indonesia Justice and United Party (no DPR seats in 2009).
Independent candidates are only allowed to compete for the 132 DPD seats and for
governor, regent, mayor and village head. Political parties have limited internal democracy and,
generally, party candidates are decided by party elites.

Election Management Bodies

The National Election Commission (Komisi Pemilihan Umum/KPU) is the independent
constitutional election management body responsible for the conduct of national and regional
elections as mandated by Law 15/2011. The Commission consists of seven commissioners
(currently six men and one woman). These commissioners were identified through a rigid
selection process and then inaugurated by the President on 12 April 2012 for a five-year term.
The Chairman (Ketua) of the KPU is elected for a five-year term in a closed-vote plenary
meeting of the KPU when it first constitutes itself. The post is currently held by Husni Kamil
Manik. The other six commissioners are: Ida Budhiati, Sigit Pamungkas, Arief Budiman, Ferry
Kurnia Rizkiyansyah, Hadar Nafis Gumay and Juri Ardiantoro.
 The KPU Secretariat, led by the Secretary-General is the executive arm of the KPU
responsible for the administration of the organization at the national level. The Secretary-
General is usually nominated by the KPU and then appointed for a five-year term by the
President. On 1 February 2013, the KPU appointed Arif Rahman Hakim as the new Secretary
General. Since 2007, the KPU has been able to recruit its own permanent civil servant staff.
Prior to 2007, most staff transfers came from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).
The Commission and Secretariat structures are replicated regionally throughout the
provinces: all provinces have five commissioners except Aceh, which has seven. The KPU has
approximately 13,865 staff in 531 offices across Indonesia.
Election Supervisory Body (Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum/Bawaslu) is the institution
in charge of overseeing that an electoral complaint is directed to the appropriate body and
resolved correctly; broadly, criminal matters are referred to the police/courts, and
administrative matters to KPU. Bawaslu commissioners are elected for five year term in the
same manner as the KPU Commissioners. Currently, Bawaslu consists of: Muhammad
(Chairman), Nasrullah, Endang Wihdatiningtyas, Daniel Zuchron, and Nelson Simanjuntak. Law
8/2012 on Legislative Election gives the Bawaslu the adjudicatory power to solve disputes
between KPU and election contestants. The Bawaslu rulings are final, with the exception of
matters relating to political party and legislative candidate registrations. Serious electoral
violations which affect the results are filed directly with the Constitutional Court. Provisions in
Law 15/2011 establish the Bawaslu and the KPU as equal and separate institutions.
Commissioners of the Bawaslu are selected by the same selection committee that selects the
KPU commissioners. There are five permanent members of the Bawaslu at the national level.
Its regional counterpart, Provincial Bawaslu, is now a permanent institution consisting of three
members. At levels below the Provincial Bawaslu, membership is not permanent and consists
of the following: three members at the regency/municipal-level, three at the district-level and
one field supervisor at every village/kelurahan level. This type of supervisory body is unique to
Indonesia.
Law 15/2011 also establishes the Honorary Council of Election Management Bodies
(Dewan Kehormatan Penyelenggara Pemilu/DKPP). DKPP is a national-level ethics council
established to review and decide upon complaints and/or reports of alleged violations of the
code of ethics committed by members of the KPU and Bawaslu. DKPP is established within two
months of the oath taking of KPU and Bawaslu members for a five year term, and consists of
one representative of KPU, one representative of Bawaslu and five community leaders.
Currently, they are: H. Jimly Asshiddiqie (Chairman), Ida Budhiati, Nelson Simanjuntak, Abdul
Bari Azed, Valina Singka Subekti, Saut Hamonangan Sirait, Nur Hidayat Sardini.
 Also unique to Indonesia, DKPP ensures that the work of KPU and Bawaslu commissioners
meet the joint code of conduct and has powers to recommend commissioners’ dismissal.
DKPP’s rulings are final and binding.

15 criteria of Indonesian leader's in the future:

1. Honest
2. Can be trusted (Amanah)
3. Wise
4. Talk less and do more
5. Humble
6. Can reach out all the society
7. Close to the society
8. A simple one
9. Firmly
10. Opinionated strong
11. Can be a role model for everyone
12. Have commitment
13. Smart
14. Responsible
15. Good at communicating