Nepotism in politics: A South Asian bug has bitten Southeast Asian nations

livemint.com:

Indonesia last week was rocked by large demonstrations attended by tens of thousands in several cities against a move in parliament aimed at relaxing electoral laws. The amendment, aborted in the face of the protests, would have allowed President Jokowi’s 29-year-old son, Kaesang Pangarep, to contest regional elections in central Java.

Late on Sunday, the country’s election commission issued new rules that uphold the convention that candidates for such elections should be 30 or older. Indonesia’s two-term limit means that President Jokowi must step down this October, but his eldest son will be vice-president in the incoming administration, which makes the attempt to manipulate age limits for his third son to contest polls even more baffling.

Earlier this month, in Thailand, meanwhile, Paetongtarn Shinawatra became prime minister just three days after she turned 38. Her election as the leader of the Pheu Thai party her father Thaksin Shinawatra founded was precipitated by a constitutional court dismissal of her predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, for the impropriety of appointing a cabinet minister convicted of corruption.

The court has shown time and again that it does what is expedient for Thailand’s conservative establishment, notably its military elite that runs political parties of its own. The decision to dismiss Srettha came on the heels of a court decision to disband Move Forward, a party that won the most seats in the last parliamentary election in 2023.

It is widely believed the party was kept out for its proposal to reform Thailand’s lese majeste laws, introduce competition laws to rein in Thailand’s oligopolies and curb the power of the military. Nepotism in politics, long the norm in South Asia, is making a