DIGNIFIED-BALANCED CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN AS A LEGAL RECOGNITION OF IDENTITY POLITICS IN THE ELECTION FOR REGIONAL HEADS IN INDONESIA

The decline of democracy is arguably attributed to the electoral process itself due to the incremental degradation of rights and democratic procedure. However, notable figures point out that the underlying reason for such collapse is the inhospitable environment that hinders the proper functioning of democracy. In that, it is this environment of increased tension that gives rise to differences in political identity. Such practices have been seen in several regional elections held in Indonesia which weaponizes factors such as race and/or religion for political purposes. This paper shall assess the relationship between the aforementioned practices, its effect on the Indonesian democratic practices and the relevant changes that shall be brought about through the constitution in order to address such issues to ensure justice and harmony. This paper relies largely on literature and makes use of normative legal research. The findings of this paper are set out in a descriptive and instrumental manner which looks into the emergence and development of identity politics in Indonesian regional elections. This paper would also assess the way in which values of Pancasila and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika as the pillars of the nation could be incorporated into the Constitution to tackle the negative effects of identity politics in the form of dignified balance constitutional design which characterizes as harmony, humanizing humans, incremental, and resilience.