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Roots of Democracy Sink Deeper into Indonesian Soil
Thursday, January 24, 2002
(13:12)
By James Castle
Founder of the CastleAsia consultancy
President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia

Originally appeared in English in The Business Times, 3 August, 2001



The victory of Mr Hamzah for the vice-presidency confirms that Muslim parties can win high office in Indonesia and that there is no secular ‘conspiracy’ to prevent them from fully participating in Indonesia’s modern political life.

JAKARTA
No matter what the future holds for Indonesia’s fledgling democracy, there is little doubt that the democratic process is stronger in Indonesia today than at any time since the fall of the Suharto government in May 1998.

Although some may argue with this contention, it seems quite clear that the MPR (People’s Consultative Assembly) was exercising its constitutional authority when it replaced ex-president Abdurrahman Wahid with Megawati Sukarnoputri.

The Constitution does after all state that ‘it is the MPR that holds the highest power of the state’ and ‘the president who is appointed by the MPR shall be subordinate and accountable to the MPR.’

One of the most fundamental purposes of democracy is to ensure that the leadership can change without violence. It also must provide a means to struggle for political power without fear of the consequences if one loses.

Political losers must not be arrested, murdered or otherwise abused by the winners. Losers must also be confident that in a very real sense they will be free to contest power another day; the high office they lose today may be theirs tomorrow.
(More: The Indonesian Observer on the Web News Source)
2002 © The Business Times.

Dan