MENGENAL DEMOKRASI AMERIKA SERIKAT DI TINGKAT LOKAL
Oleh Beni Bevly
Pesta demokrasi tingkat nasional, yaitu pemilihan presiden Amerika Serikat (AS) selalu menjadi sorotan dunia internasional dan menjadi bahan perbandingan bagi negara lain. Bagaimana dengan mekanisme demokrasi tingkat lokal atau di tingkat paling rendah yaitu distrik khusus (special district/district)? Bukankah ini juga bisa dijadikan bahan perbanding bagi negara lain, seperti Indonesia? Agaknya hal ini belum begitu banyak didiskusikan di berbagai forum studi.
Pada tanggal 19 dan 20 Juni 2007, aku sempat terlibat dalam mekanisme atau proses pelaksanaan sistem politik demokrasi AS tingkat distrik di Mountain House, sebuah kota yang sedang dibangun yang terletak kurang lebih 60 mile di sebelah timur kota San Francisco, Kalifornia. Dalam pertemuan dua hari yang diberi nama Advisory Committee Workshop itu dibahas dan dicari kesepakan apakah Mountain House akan berubah dari dependent district menjadi independent district dan bagaimana caranya. Dalam pada itu juga didiskusikan konsekwensi terkait seperti aspek sosial, ekonomi, politik dan hukum, terumtama tentang Brown Act. Tetapi bahasan kali ini tidak akan menyinggung beberapa aspek ini.
Dalam workshop itu diterangkan bahwa di AS terdapat lima lapisan sistem pemerintahan, yaitu dari mulai tingkat yang paling tinggi federal, state, county, kota dan district adalah tingkat yang paling rendah. Kita sudah sering dengar mekanisme demokrasi yang terjadi pada tingkat federal dan state. Kedua tingkat ini yang melibatkan pemilihan presiden, senator, assamblyman, dan gubernur secara langsung oleh rakyat. Hal ini bisa kita saksikan melalui tayangan telivisi, seperti bagaimana George Bush dan Al Gore bertarung memperebutkan posisi presiden di tingkat federal. Arnold Schwarzenegger dan Gray Davis memperebutkan kusi gubernur di tingkat state atau di tingkat negara bagian Kalifornia.
Pada tingkat county, lebih kecil dari state, para politikus bertarung memperebutkan kursi Board of Supervisors (BoS). Di tingkat kota dan special district, mereka memperebutkan posisi Mayor dan Board of Directors (BoD). Special district di sini mempunyai arti yang lain dari pengertian district secara umum di AS.
Mountain House (MH), kota yang baru mulai dibangun pada tahun 2001 ini, sekarang masih berstatus sebagai dependent district, artinya semua keputusan mengenai aktivitas kota ini ditentukan oleh Board of Supervisor di tingkat county. MH baru bisa menjadi independent district jika sudah mencapai 1.000 registered voters (pemilih sah dan tercatat yang berwarga negara AS). Dengan status independent district, MH akan mempunyai wewenang untuk mengelolah pekerjaan yang selama ini ditangani oleh county seperti pekerjaan umum (membangun sarana public, perijinan penggunanan tanah tetap harus dapat persetujuan dari county), keamanan (polisi, pemadam kebakaran dan emergency), dan pelayanan umum (air, listrik dan lain-lain).
Bagaimana langkah untuk menjadi independent district? Di sinilah dimulainya proses demokrasi AS di tingkat lokal/paling rendah. Pertama, begitu penduduk MH mencapai 1.000 pemilih (dalam hal ini sudah terjadi), BoS akan bertanya pada penduduk MH melalui pemilihan, apakah MH ingin mempunyai BoD dan menjadi independent?
Kedua, jika jawaban pada pemilihan pertama adalah “ya”, maka dilakukanlah pemilihan BoD yang akan menggantikan peran BoS di tingkat county.
Lebih rincinya, BoS memulai proses ini dengan memilih lima orang Advisory Committe (AC) dari MH. BoS mengumumkan kepada semua penduduk MH bahwa barang siapa yang mau menjadi AC bisa mengajukan lamaran pada BoS. Ternyata ada 35 orang yang melamar dan dipilih 5 orang.
AC ini bersifat sementara dan hanya bertugas mewakili seluruh penduduk MH ini memberikan masukan pada BoS tentang kapan akan dilakukan pemilihan untuk menjadi independent dan pemilihan anggota BoD, serta metode apa yang dipilih. Dalam memenuhi tugas yang tidak dibayar ini, AC harus mencari tahu kurang lebih apa maunya penduduk MH. Termasuk bertanya dan minta pendapat para peserta Advisory Committee Workshop yang salah satu pesertanya adalah aku. Untuk membantu mempermudah tugas AC, BoS telah mengadakan survey yang berkaitan dengan pertanyaan di atas.
Diakhir workshop itu, disepakati pemilihan untuk menjadi independent district akan dilaksanakan pada tanggal 6 November 2007. Sedangkan pemilihan BoD akan dilaksanakan pada bulan November 2008 yang digabungkan dengan pemilihan umum nasional.
Pencapain kesepakan mengenai metode apa yang akan dipakai ternyata tidak semudah seperti penetapan waktu pemilihannya. Perdebatan di topik sekitar ini telah dimulai pada hari pertama workshop. Perlu diketahui, dalam pemilihan tingkat district ada tiga metode yang dipakai. Pertama, metode At Large. Dalam metode pemilihan ini, semua calon BoD berasal dari MH dan dipilih oleh semua pemilih yang sah dan bertempat tinggal di MH.
Kedua, metode By Divisions. MH dibagi dalam lima devisi secara geografis, yaitu sesuai dengan jumlah BoD. Calon BoD harus mewakili divisi di mana ia tinggal dan mereka hanya dipilih oleh penduduk di divisi itu.
Ketiga, metode From Divisions. Seperti halnya By Division, MH dibagi dalam lima devisi secara geografis. Calon BoD harus berasal dari divisi di mana ia tinggal, tetapi mereka dipilih oleh semua penduduk MH.
Setiap peserta workshop yang mencapai 20 orang ini diminta untuk mengemukakan pendapat mengenai metode pemilihan tersebut di atas. Aku sendiri berpikir bahwa metode From Division lebih cocok untuk MH. Alasan yang aku kemukakan adalah BoD yang terpilih akan lebih mengetahui dan bisa menyampaikan aspirasi dari divisi di mana ia tinggal, tetapi tetap membina persatuan karena ia pemilihnya berasal dari oleh semua divisi.
Di samping itu, aku katakan bahwa metode ini akan lebih menjamin tertampungnya keanekaragaman kepentingan penduduk MH. Aku juga ingatkan bahwa metode apa saja yang dipakai pada pertamanya akan susah diubah, karena BoD yang berhasil keluar sebagai pemenang dengan metode itu akan cenderung mempertahankannya, supaya ia terpilih kembali. Karena itu penetapan metode jangan hanya berdasarkan mudahnya saja.
Ternyata yang sependapat dengan aku jumlahnya adalah minoritas. Mayoritas lebih menyenangi metode At Large yang dianggap mudah pelaksanaanya dan akan membawa persatuan.
Proses ini mengingatkan aku ketika aku masih di Indonesia. Pada saat itu, sekitar tahun 1997, aku tinggal di kota Lippo Karawaci, suatu kota yang sedang di bangun oleh Lippo Group. Pemerintahan propinsi atau kabupaten di Jawa Barat sama sekali tidak melibatkan penduduknya untuk membangun pemerintahan di kota itu. Sayang sekali, penduduk di sana, termasuk aku hanya menjadi penduduk yang apolitis dan menerima semua keputusan yang tidak demokratis.
Wilayah Indonesia masih begitu luas dan masih banyak kota baru yang akan dibangun. Akankah penduduknya dilibatkan dalam pesta demokrasi serupa ini?
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*Beni Bevly holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and is a DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) candidate. He is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia.
Dear Beni:
I do not recommend to incorporate the Mountain House to be a City or Independent District just because you guys have fulfilled the 1,000 registered voters in the area. You can bring this issue up to the current Advisory Committee Members at your home town.
The main criteria to look into the possibility to incorporate the area to be a City (or Independent District) is one thing and one thing only, that is the potential income tax revenue for the city to earn annually from their local merchants and its local community.
Being a City, you will have to have the entire package established as a mandatory requirement for being a city such as: a Mayor with its building, City Council Members, its employees, City Manager, City Attorneys, its fleets, Maintenance Department, its water department, building department, planning commission, Police Department with its building, Chief Police, officers and fleets, Fire Department with its building, Chief, Fire Fighters and its fleets, public library, Recreation and Park District, and so on and so forth to serve your local community. All of these will cost tremendous amount of money for the city to bear. If the City does not have sizeable amount of income tax revenue, incorporating the area is not helpful to improve the quality of life but it is even detrimental to the interest of its residents.
This formula is pretty simple. One should not buy a house with mortgage payment of $5,000 a month when the monthly income received is only $2,500. The mortgage payment represents the City’s expenses and the monthly income received represents the potential income tax revenue for the City.
The perfect example is the City of Oakley. This city was incorporated in 1999. In 2002, when we had joint City Council meeting, the city of Oakley owed over $1,2 million in the form of tax to the County. The 1st Mayor of that city explained that if only the city would had waited 4 years later to incorporate, that will puts the city in much better position financially. There was only one reason and that was income tax revenue.
There are many other cities in the East Bay area such as: Pacheco, Bay Point, Knightsen, etc., that have been existing for over 50 years and have more than 80,000 registered voters and they are still being unincorporated areas. The reason is only one thing and one thing only, which is the lack or the limited potential income tax revenue.
As far as the Brown Act is concern, there are other public rule of engagements mandated for the American public officials and its politicians such as: Robert Rules of Order, the Better Government Regulations, the County General Plans, Codes, Ordinances and Laws, as well as the local City Codes and Ordinances.
This is what still missing in Indonesia with its democracy there. Many Indonesian politicians, scholars and even ordinary citizens understand the meaning of Democracy. But in the absence of those rules of public engagements such as: The Robert Rules of Order, The Brown Act, the Better Government Regulations, the implementation of Democracy on the ground are pretty chaotic! How do they implement the underlying principle of a true Democracy as being “government of the people, by the people and for the people”, where there is NO rule of public engagements? Just like driving car on the road without traffic rules and enforcements, cutting off left and right with no consequences, just like what we see in the street of Jakarta. What a traffic! Those public rules of engagements are there created and adopted to address these specific needs.
The interesting thing about those rules of public engagements are that each of those rules embrace the similar underlying principle and purpose which is to provide ordinary citizens an opportunity to actively participate in the Government affairs, not merely a spectator of Democracy. They are participated and involved in the government affairs. Isn’t that the true meaning of Democracy? In the Brown Act is even better.
To end this short writing, let me post a provision in the brown act:
“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created.”
The Brown Act emphasizes the fact the ordinary people, not the politicians or, its agencies or, instruments that were created is the one who posses the highest authority. It is the people! This is the kind of rule of public engagements that Indonesian really needs. Since these rules of public engagements do not come in a package in democracy, these are the job of those Indonesian politicians to create one to suit the Indonesian’s political needs and circumstances.
The writer is a former Municipal Advisory Council and current member of the Project Area Committee (PAC) under the jurisdiction of Contra Costa County.
I hope this short writing will enrich the knowledge of the American Democracy. Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Chris Komari
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Chris,
Very good and informative comment. Prior to the Advisory Committee Workshop, there was a survey that was asking if the people of the Mountain House were willing to have their own independent city. Mojority of the people said yes. And the decision made by the Advisory Committee was based on this survey.
We also talked about your concern, how much money they need to run this city and from what sources.
Your comment really show the other side that my article did not mention. Thank you for your valuable inputs.
Hi Ben,
You’re very welcome. As far as the Mountain House’s residents’ desire to incorporate the area, it will be very possible. The potential to grow is still wide open there. Mountain House still has a humongous chunk of empty land around and that alone is a great potential for more new developments and growth for the area to invite more investors in. That in the long run will lead a path for these investors and businesses to come in.
This is perhaps something that the current members of the Advisory committee need to consider creating some sort of Master Plan for the area and establish Zoning Development guidelines for the area in such a way that the Zoning Developments, building Restrictions and Guidelines are made and designed to support the long term of goal of the area, which is to incorporate to be a City. In other words, make sure that the rest of the empty lands that still exist today are not merely to be used for residential buildings, but they must be proportionately used for businesses and light industrial that will generate much of the income tax revenues for the city in the future. That is where the Master plan plays its role. Certainly, Mountain House has every potential to be a City compared to other areas that I know of. Address the issue with the Board of Supervisors in your county and ask the Supervisor in your District to come up with a comprehensive economic development plan for the area, specifically, for Mountain House. Well, good luck Ben!
Every time I discuss about this issue, I can not help myself of connecting and comparing the local system of Government here in the USA and the local system of Government there in Indonesia. As we know here in the USA, there are cities with its Mayor and City Council Members to govern the City’s affairs, under some guidelines from the County and States. Within the Counties, there are Board Member of Supervisors and then the State with its Governor, State Senators and Assembly Members.
Now in Indonesia, we have Pak RT, RW, Pak Lurah and Kepala Desa with its Secretary, Treasurer and some supporting committees and sub-committee (I don’t remember the names), and then Kecamatan with its Camat with its administrative employees, and then Kabupaten with its Bupati or Walikota (Mayor) and its House of Representative at District or Regency level (Kabupaten) and then, Governor with its House of Representative at the Province level (Propinsi). On top of that, there are still some other community leaders, such as: Military and Police District Commanders. What confuses me is this. Who is really taking the shot and responsible for the city’s residents’ welfare including the villages? Pak Lurah or Kepala Desa do not have much power, other than adminsitrative powers, neither Pak Camat.
Here in the USA, the Mayor has the authority to fire Chief Police if he/she deems the Chief Police does not competent of doing his/her jobs. Can Pak Lurah fire KAPOLRES? Or Can Pak Camat fire KAPOLSEK or KAPOLRES? Can Bupati or Walikota fire those Military Chief Commanders for incompetence? I feel that there are too many layers of micro government in Indonesia that is so ineffective. Perhaps, this is something that we need to look into it and needs a political reformation.
Secondly, the Indonesian General election is coming up soon. I am wondering if you can post this question in your side to invite public discussion among the Indonesian politicians. What are the 10 ten most pressing and critical issues facing Indonesia and why?
That will be interesting subjects to see being debated in your site. I am very eager to hear from those Indonesian politicians, Indonesian scholars, students and Indonesian political observers and certainly, those prominent Indonesian journalists to address these issues.
Thanks
Chris Komari
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