Democracy Without Political Ethics
The issue of political parties is not only a matter of internal reform within the existing parties, but the need for an overhaul of party rules in general.
Bivitri Susanti
A Kompas report (27/3/2023) that discusses the results of a Kompas R&D survey regarding the decline of (public) trust in institutions resulting from the reform movement requires us to rethink the role of political actors in democracy. Democracy is not a jargon, but a political practice, which is carried out by all, both formal and informal political actors. Therefore, discussing state institutions is linked to examining how politicians work.
Public trust in state institutions is indeed greatly influenced by their performance. However, do not forget state institutions are not entities that can make their own decisions in carrying out their duties and roles. They act based on institutional reasons that are highly dependent on political factors, such as: who are the individuals picked by political actors to occupy leadership positions and their relations with other state institutions. In fact, the birth and death of institutions is very dependent on the "permission" of the political parties. This is because political decisionmakers are politicians in the House of Representatives and the government through laws. Meanwhile, politicians in the House and the President, as well as most of the current ministers, are from political parties.