Politicization of Village: A Case Phenomenon in East Java

Politicization of Village: A Case Phenomenon in East Java

Village politicization aspects, charismatic village heads will be eroded and administrative village heads will emerge which in the end constructs villages to become political and anti-democratic. Money politics or belly politics is a form of giving or promising to bribe someone either so that that person does not exercise his right to vote or so that he can exercise his rights in a certain way at the time of the general election. Purchases can be made using money or goods. The practice of money politics is carried out by giving money and basic necessities such as rice, oil and sugar to the community with the aim of attracting public sympathy so that they can vote for the party concerned.

Villages which are part of the democratization process in fact are not free from this problem. The tendency of democratic practice in the village tends to fall into the vortex of procedural democracy. Such things can be seen in the implementation of the Pilkades which is a vehicle for democratic parties in the village. The existence of this Pilkades in Law No. 6 of 2014 is regulated in Article 34 which reads:

(1) Village head was chosen directly by the villager

(2) Village head elections are direct, general, free, confidential, honest and fair.

(3) Village head elections are carried out through the stages of nomination, voting, and determination

(4) etc . . . .

Thus, the content of this regulation in its implementation goes well in accordance with the corridors of good and correct democracy. However, it turns out that the great influence of the practice of national democracy which is trapped in the vortex of procedural democracy and conditions with money politics has brought the face of democracy in the village to a blur.

The importance of establishing the Village Democracy Institution as a form of village level democratization. Village communities living around the forest certainly have different individual characters, ways of social interaction, and the model of the village government in managing their communities when compared to rural communities living on the coast even though they are still in the same district. Managing and regulating according to the socio-cultural conditions in each village area is what restores the old village spirit that has been uprooted from its soul.

The selection of the hamlet lead election in Payaman Village in December 2021 is a momentum for how important campus involvement is in implementing democratization at the village level. The paradigm of village officials that previously prioritized family relations, old apparatus, dynastic politics, politics full of various interests is an old view that must be changed. The mechanism for selecting the Village Head in Lamongan Regency refers to the Regent's Regulation (Perbup) No. 42 of 2017 in order to realize the professionalism of village officials and real synergy with the campus. 

The screening of candidates is carried out in a strict selection. The technique of making exam questions requires special knowledge and abilities, because there are methods and provisions that are academic in nature. The materials tested consisted of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, Knowledge of Village Government, Religious Knowledge, General Knowledge, Office Administration and Computer Information Engineering (ICT).

Significance, Principles and Framework for Village Democratization

Democratic life has been carried out from the village level, for example with the election of leaders and a culture of deliberation with the term village meeting (rembug desa) in Java, nagari deliberation (musyawarah nagari)  in Minang and Sakehe in Bali. The existence of the village seen from the scope of its history is widely said to be the original government that was recognized from the time of the kingdom to the existence of the Indonesian state. As the original government, its existence in Indonesia experienced ups and downs in regulation.

Such things could be usually seen in several arrangements which include Law number 18 of 1965 concerning the Praja Village, Law Number 5 of 1979 concerning Village Administration, in Law Number 22 of 1999, in Law Number 32 of 2004 concerning Regional Government until and until the issuance of Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning Villages.

Law number 32 of 2004 concerning Regional Government defines Villages as follows:

“A village or what is called another name, hereinafter referred to as a village, is a legal community unit that has territorial boundaries that are authorized to regulate and manage the interests of the local community, based on local origins and customs that are recognized and respected in the system of the Government of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Indonesia” (Law No. 32 of 2004 on Regional Government article 1 paragraph 12).

Whereas according to Law Number 6 of 2014 concerning villages it is stated that what is defined as villages are as follows:

“Village is a village and traditional village or what is called by another name, hereinafter referred to as Village, is a legal community unit that has territorial boundaries that are authorized to regulate and manage government affairs, the interests of the local community based on community initiatives, origin rights, and/or traditional rights. recognized and respected in the system of government of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.”

There is one common understanding of the definition of village according to Law number 32 of 2004, as well as Law number 6 of 2014 which is to agree that the village is a Self Community, namely a community that regulates itself (a community that has autonomy). With the understanding that the village has the authority to manage and regulate the interests of its community in accordance with local conditions and socio-cultural conditions, the position of a village that has genuine autonomy is very strategic. One thing that needs to be underlined is that in managing and organizing villages, it must be adapted to local socio-cultural conditions and, it can be interpreted that one village has rules that may differ from other villages even though they are in the same sub-district or district. Therefore, even though the implementation of village governance on a macro basis, the regulations used are the same, in the implementation of village governance on a micro basis it cannot be arranged identically.