Indonesian democracy

[Warspite]

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13413966

Democracy in South-East Asia
The Indonesian surprise

Apr 2nd 2009
From The Economist print edition
The world's biggest Muslim country has changed from authoritarian basket-case to regional role model

THE Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s helped bring regime change in both the country where it started, Thailand, and the one where the devastation it wrought was most profound, Indonesia. At the time Thailand's prospects for political stability seemed infinitely brighter. A cohesive nation whose army seemed to have withdrawn from politics, it adopted a new constitution, drafted in an impeccably consultative process. Indonesia, however, woke up in 1998 from the 32-year Suharto dictatorship with a dreadful hangover—blood on the streets of Jakarta, separatist conflicts on the periphery and a chaotic explosion of repressed political activity, some of it tinged with Islamist extremism.

Yet as Indonesia prepares for its third national parliamentary elections since then, to be held on April 9th, it has a fair claim to be South-East Asia's only fully functioning democracy. Unfettered by Thailand's draconian lèse-majesté laws, or the fierce interpretations of what constitutes defamation in Singapore and Malaysia, the press is vibrant and free. Unlike Thailand's army, which returned to politics with a coup in 2006, Indonesia's has stayed back in the barracks. And unlike the Philippines, where elections dominated by guns, goons and gold lead to dozens of murders, Indonesia has enjoyed a largely peaceful campaign. Indonesia's corruption rates probably still top regional charts, but the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made strides in attacking it.

Moreover, pluralist politics and a decentralisation of power have helped bring Islamist politics into the mainstream. Jemaah Islamiah, the local al-Qaeda franchisee, responsible for the bombing in Bali in 2002 and other attacks, has been marginalised: its most dangerous fanatics are in jail or hiding in the jungles of Mindanao in the southern Philippines. No attacks on foreign targets in Indonesia have been recorded since 2005. The above-ground Islamist parties have had to become less vehement to gain power. About two-fifths of local elections have been won by coalitions forged between Islamist and secular parties. In the two other huge Asian Muslim-majority nations—Pakistan and Bangladesh—extremism gained ground in the early years of this century in part because of the suppression of political competition.

Of course Indonesia is not a paragon of Jeffersonian democracy. The parties contesting the election (see article) are doing so largely on the basis of their leaders' charisma, and the quality of the packed lunches and other handouts they provide at their rallies. And those leaders are mostly people who thrived under Suharto, too, testifying not just to the elite's tenacious staying power, but also to the lack of any accountability for the abuses of the Suharto years. One is the former army chief, Wiranto, who was indicted by a United Nations-backed tribunal for his role in the violence that surrounded Indonesia's withdrawal from Timor-Leste in 1999. Another, Prabowo Subianto, is the divorced husband of one of Suharto's daughters, and a former special-forces commander whose human-rights record is such that he cannot get a visa to America.

In the short term, however, the biggest difficulty facing Indonesian democracy is the election itself. Despite the experience of the previous votes in 1999 and 2004 it was always going to face huge difficulties: a voting system of Byzantine complexity; constantly evolving rules; the logistics of organising polls in an archipelago of 17,000 islands and 240m people; and the apparent ineptitude of the election commission. A new one was added, however, with the exposure of the apparent rigging of a recent election for a provincial governorship, in East Java, in favour of Mr Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.

The scale of the errors uncovered—over a quarter of the names on the voters' list were fictitious or repeated—seems too large for it to be simply an instance of incompetence. But instead of helping the investigation, the police in Jakarta intervened to downgrade it and sideline the local police chief responsible. Since then errors have been detected in voters' lists elsewhere. This makes it even more likely that many losing candidates in the election will challenge the results. Indonesia's love affair with democracy could enter a rocky patch.
Pricking the pretext of "Asian values"

It should, however, be no more than that. The manipulation was uncovered, publicised and is being exploited by opposition candidates: the system worked. As governments elsewhere in the region retreat into repression, Indonesia can still be proud of its young but vibrant pluralism. Although Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew did most of the talking about the "Asian values" that justify authoritarianism, Suharto was their role model and proof. Indonesia is now an altogether different sort of model. Like India it has shown that democracy can work in huge, diverse and poor countries. And like Brazil, Taiwan and South Korea, it has shown it does not need generations to strike roots.

I lived in Indonesia from 1996 to 1999. I saw the start of the economic crisis there; and I remember the queues for petrol that stretched for miles on the last day before subsidies were revoked as per the IMF's bailout conditions.

I remember the columns of smoke in spring eleven years ago rising from all over the city: protesters were burning police stations down. One afternoon, after getting home from school, I turned on the TV. A large truck careened towards a line of riot police on Jalan General Sudirman (the main road in the commercial district); its steering locked and the accelerator pedal pressed by a brick, it hurtled towards the police line before tipping over and skidding to a halt. The camera view, live on CNN, panned up, and there, a hundred metres away, was my dad's office building, where the British Council was.

I also remember the panicked phone calls from some good friends who lived in Pondok Indah, a wealthy residential district. They were Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese friends - and they had just heard rumours, confirmed by bloody TV footage, of a vicious pogrom against Chinese in Jakarta. Bodies floating down the city's canals testified to the carnage.

On the day of the FA Cup final, which Arsenal won, I was evacuated to Malaysia. The whole process was surreal; the normally packed highways were empty. All the toll gates were abandoned, and papers floated across the dirty grey tarmac.

Unlike many of my friends, I returned to Indonesia and my father carried on his work there. I never wanted to leave in 1999 - the country had become very dear to me, and the expatriate lifestyle there is great for any teenager.

So it is good to see the country continuing its path towards real democracy; it perhaps had further to go than Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, its more glamorous neighbours, but nevertheless as the article suggests it has made the most progress. Some positive implications come to mind: political Islam can be integrated into democratic processes, and such successes have to be seized upon as an example for other more troubled states; and the "Asian model" of autocracy has been revealed for what it truly is, a cover for elite interests.

[jimmy olsen]

Good news. 

[Admiral Yi]

Did you ever manage to nail Sigourney Weaver?

Good story Orchesta.

[Razgovory]

Huh.  I didn't even know Indonesia had a governement.

[KRonn]

Interesting story Warspite, eye witness account. I'm glad to see Indonesia making some decent progress, with the steps backward once in a while, as with anything so complex. As a large Muslim nation especially, it's good to see what seems to me quite a change and difference, from other Muslim nations that might be struggling to keep from going the more radical way. Seems to me that Indonesia is getting things figured out, has been doing that for a while now.

[Caliga]

Will Indonesian Democracy be a better song than Chinese Democracy?  Also, will it take 15 years to come out?

[I Killed Kenny]

East Timor is also a Democracy... bitchs...

[PDH]

East Timor is also a Democracy... bitchs...

Buck up.  Some day Portugal will get a real government too.

[DisturbedPervert]

East Timor is also a Democracy... bitchs...

Shiva willing, someday Bali will be independent as well.

[I Killed Kenny]

Maybe

[DGuller]

It would be nice to have bmolsson chime in here, if he's not dead already.  Too bad Seedy drove him out.

[Razgovory]

It would be nice to have bmolsson chime in here, if he's not dead already.  Too bad Seedy drove him out.

I dunno, I've met dementia patients who were easier to understand.

[katmai]

[Ed Anger]

If you want, you can drive me out of here and claim credit.

[katmai]

If you want, you can drive me out of here and claim credit.