Is Indonesia's democracy really blooming? If you read the English-speaking press, you might think the answer is a resounding yes. Papers in London and New York have applauded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cabinet picks and hailed his government as a post-authoritarian success story.
Democracy is consolidating and the economy is growing, they say, thanks to Yudhoyono's stewardship over the past five years. Why else would more than 60 percent of the electorate have voted for him in recent elections? If you read the local press, however, a very different narrative emerges.
Since the strongman Suharto stepped down 11 years ago, democracy hasn't really taken hold, nor is it widely accepted by the public. In a 2006 Indonesian Survey Institute poll, only about 70 percent of Indonesians said they even thought favorably of democracy. Two years later, this number had dropped another 10 percent, mostly due to growing disillusionment with elected officials -- more and more of whom became corrupt as economic conditions worsened. And the military, which once propped up the oppressive regime, now receives higher favorability ratings than most other public institutions.
Additionally, apathy has seeped into the voting population. The number of voters has dwindled since the 1999 presidential contest, the first free and fair election after Suharto, in which more than 90 percent of the electorate participated. Today, 30 percent don't bother to fill out a ballot. The statistics for local elections are even worse.
Voters are unhappy about economic issues. In this country of around 230 million, more than 35 million live in a state of dire poverty, but in 2008, $75 billion in wealth belonged to just 150 people. Furthermore, corruption is unimpeded, making life difficult for Indonesia's poor. The number of public and elected officials implicated in graft cases more than quintupled between 2005 and 2008, to 444, according to Indonesian Corruption Watch.
And so, the public increasingly resents its democratic institutions and their efforts, even reminiscing about the "good old days" of stability under Suharto -- as most believe economic conditions were better then. A 2008 poll by one local daily found that almost 70 percent of Indonesians thought negatively of parliament, and more than half felt that legislators passed laws which went against their interests.
Recently, some Indonesians, including prominent retired generals, have called for welfare, not freedom, to be the yardstick -- echoing earlier calls for the restoration of the executive-heavy 1945 constitution. One retired general lamented that "Our elections have moved away from a consensual democracy to a liberal, one-man-one-vote democracy," and amid decreasing living standards, that this "could potentially disrupt national unity."
So what accounts for the difference between foreign and domestic accounts of Indonesian democracy?
First, Indonesia had its democracy imposed from the top down by political elites following Suharto's abdication. Decentralized, grassroots, and organic democratic institutions, like political parties, have not had the time to take root. Thus, it might appear to outside observers that Indonesia's democracy is strong, since there has not been any serious election-related violence, demonstrations and ensuing crackdowns, or countermovements since the end of Suharto's reign. But the country's democracy is actually shallow, a fact apparent to Indonesians.
Source:
foreignpolicy.com