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154Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesiawho exercise it through collective activities to determine the goalsand future of society, and to choose those who will holdleadership positions for the next term. Thus, politicalparticipation is an embodiment of the legitimate exercise ofpolitical power by the people. Political parties are expected toserve as effective instruments to help shape public policy andto choose political leaders who are trusted to exercise power forthe benefit of the people.Therefore, political parties must be built as modernorganizations. As modern and national institutions, politicalparties must be founded on a national vision and governed bya democratic culture. They must be managed according to theprinciples of justice, transparency, accountability, andresponsibility. In this way, political parties can become healthyorganizations capable of playing their proper roles in politicallife.Under the open proportional system, however, theinstitutional role of political parties has been amputated%u2014although they are officially election participants, whatdominates in practice are individual figures. As a result, politicalparties are no longer guided by ideals, nationalism, ideology,cadre development, dedication, and competence to solve thepeople%u2019s problems. Instead, they have been replaced by anelectoral democracy that is pragmatic, short-sighted, andtransactional%u2014where, once elected, representatives tend to usetheir power merely to recover their campaign expenses.In such circumstances, political parties lose their ability toperform their essential roles%u2014such as preparing the nation%u2019s bestcadres; providing political education to the public within theirscope of responsibility; and raising citizens%u2019 awareness of their