This article aims to critically discuss changes affecting the local elite in Indonesia in the age of decentralization and electoral democracy.After Suharto's authoritarian New Order collapsed in 1998, Indonesia entered a phase of reformation and democratization.Reform in Indonesia was marked by a decentralization program featuring the introduction of a direct election system.Scholars focusing on Indonesia's democratic development have tried to assess the character of democracy in Indonesia.Some influential scholars in their oligarchic theses maintained that a small group of wealthy people rooted in the New Order regime have continued to define politics in contemporary Indonesia.This paper attempts to show an argument differing from the oligarchic thesis by assessing whether changes in democratic institutions through direct elections (implemented in 2005 through Law No. 32 of 2004) have strengthened the oligarchy, or opened up opportunities for the rise of populist leaders.This study focuses on the Tuban Regency, in East Java as the selected case study.The result of this study confirms that direct elections in the Tuban Regency attested that the pilkada as a new institutional transformation has opened the door to prospective regional heads from various backgrounds and increased the opportunities for elite competition.The direct election of the regional head of Tuban made political conditions more dynamic and showed that the power of wealth was not always the main factor in candidates' victories.
Rika Kurniaty (Fri,) studied this question.