{"id":2269,"date":"2014-05-30T08:55:58","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T08:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/?p=2269"},"modified":"2014-05-31T07:34:14","modified_gmt":"2014-05-31T07:34:14","slug":"indonesian-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/indogomagazine.com\/indogo\/indonesian-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesian Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

What Indonesia Can Teach Thailand and Egypt About Democracy (and Vice Versa)<\/p>\n

With democracy besieged in much of Asia and the Muslim world, Indonesia is something of a beacon. The world’s most populous Muslim nation has successfully rid its politics of military intervention, and is about to embark on another free and fair direct election for its next leader<\/p>\n

\"Indonesia<\/a>

A member of An-Nadzir Muslim shows his inked finger after casting his ballot at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Gowa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 9, 2014. Polls opened Wednesday for nearly 187 million Indonesians eligible to vote in single-day legislative elections, a huge feat in the still-young democracy that’s expected to help clear the path for the country’s next president. (AP Photo\/Masyudi S. Firmansyah)<\/p><\/div>\n

A coup in Thailand. A landslide electoral victory in Egypt for a former military chief who overthrew an elected government. Democracy remains elusive in much of Southeast Asia and in much of the Muslim world. Yet, one Muslim-majority country in Southeast Asia proves it is not necessarily so.<\/p>\n

Indonesia, which holds both parliamentary and presidential elections this year, is a testament to transformation. In 2001, three years after the fall of authoritarian President Suharto, Indonesia faced a multitude of crises, from Christian-Muslim sectarian strife and Islamist terrorist attacks, to separatist conflicts. That year, Thaksin Shinawatra won elections by landslide and became Thailand\u2019s Prime Minister, but Indonesia\u2019s first democratically elected President, Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, was forced to step down after months of wrangling with lawmakers.<\/p>\n

And yet, instead of turning to the men in uniform, Indonesia pressed ahead with political reform \u2014 reformasi, as it\u2019s called in Bahasa Indonesia. In 2004, it not only held its first directly elected presidential vote (Gus Dur was elected by legislators), but the military lost its reserved parliamentary seats. \u201cReformasi achieved a great accomplishment for Indonesian democracy: pushing the military back into the barracks,\u201d says Ulil Abshar Abdalla, an associate researcher at the Jakarta-based think tank Freedom Institute.<\/p>\n

On July 9, Indonesia is set to choose its next President, in the third poll in which voters can directly elect their country\u2019s top leader. The two presidential contenders are polar opposites. Joko Widodo is a soft-spoken and immensely popular Jakarta Governor. Prabowo Subianto is a former special-forces commander with a dubious human-rights record and infamously fiery temper.<\/p>\n

Prabowo\u2019s camp touts the ex-general as a decisive and firm leader, while Joko\u2019s camp takes pride in his humble and down-to-earth quality. \u201cOne represents the culture of a tough military commander, and the other the culture of ordinary, rather than aristocratic, Javanese people,\u201d wrote senior editor Endy Bayuni in the Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n

\"Indonesia<\/a>

Indonesia Election (credit: AFP)<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the military is out of politics, many retired officers build their second career in it. Prabowo naturally attracts quite a few former soldiers, and there are a number on Joko\u2019s side too, including Wiranto, the Hanura Party\u2019s founder who, in 2000, lost his post as Security Minister over alleged involvement in East Timor\u2019s referendum violence.<\/p>\n

But no retired officer is more polarizing than Prabowo. His critics see the 62-year-old as part of Suharto\u2019s authoritarian regime \u2014 he was married to a daughter of Suharto, joined elite military units and took part in military operations in the separatist provinces of East Timor and Irian Jaya. His quick rise through the ranks was cut short in 1998 after he was discharged from the military because of his alleged role in the abduction of pro-democracy activists in the months before the fall of Suharto.<\/p>\n

His Gerindra Party has formed a coalition with three Islamic parties, two of which are known for intolerant views toward religious minorities. Gerindra\u2019s manifesto has also raised alarm. While it guarantees freedom of religion, it also says that \u201cthe state is required to guarantee the purity of teachings of the religions acknowledged by the state from all forms of defamation and deviation.\u201d That is likely to spell more trouble to groups like the Shi\u2018ite and Ahmadi Muslims, who are frequent victims of violence and intolerance.<\/p>\n

\"Indonesia<\/a>

Participants from parties take part in a parade in Jakarta on March 15, 2014 to mark the opening of the legislative election campaign in Indonesia. Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation with 250 million people, will hold legislative polls in April and elect a new president in July, with some 180 million voters eligible to take part. (credit: Bay ISMOYO \/ AFP)<\/p><\/div>\n

Although opinion polls show that Prabowo has gained ground, the 52-year-old Joko, nicknamed Jokowi, is the front runner in the presidential race. But even if Prabowo wins the election, some analysts argue that it will be difficult for him to bring back military rule. \u201cIndonesia\u2019s democratic institutions are pretty solid and can\u2019t be overturned by him,\u201d Ulil says, adding that people should be more worried about \u201cthe radical forces around him that support his agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prabowo himself tries to assuage fears. \u201cI don\u2019t want to lead in an authoritative manner,\u201d he said on Twitter, responding to a tweet that suggested if the former general became President, he could follow in the footsteps of the Thai junta, which threatened to block social media (and, according to some reports, briefly did so on Wednesday). \u201cWhatever my political rivals say, I support freedom of the press and of expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many remain skeptical. \u201cThe first obstacle that we have to face,\u201d said Fadjroel Rachman, a student activist turned political commentator, \u201cis the return of the danger of fascism.\u201d And if anything, Indonesia should look to Thailand and Egypt to draw the most important lesson of all: democracy should never be something to be taken for granted.<\/p>\n

Source: Yenni Kwok \/ Time.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What Indonesia Can Teach Thailand and Egypt About Democracy (and Vice Versa) With democracy besieged in much of Asia and the Muslim world, Indonesia is something of a beacon. The world’s most populous Muslim nation has successfully rid its politics of military intervention, and is about to embark on another free and fair direct election […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communities"],"yoast_head":"\nIndonesian Democracy - IndoGo!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Indonesian Democracy - IndoGo!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What Indonesia Can Teach Thailand and Egypt About Democracy (and Vice Versa) With democracy besieged in much of Asia and the Muslim world, Indonesia is something of a beacon. 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