Third,then,the shallownessof theelections.This is not to agreewith the many
observerswho talk of excited masses in
Third
of World's
Birth
supportof a weakwomananda blindman
The largestand
withoutrealprogrammes.
second largestdemocraciesin the world,
IndiaandtheUS, haveelectedandsurvived
Ole Tornquist
equallyodd leaders.Andeven asidefrom
PAN's educatedmiddleclassprogramme,
While the recent elections were free and fair, the context was not just certainissues did play an importantrole
in termsof people's expectationsandtrust
and the substance was shallow, with a lack of opportunities to make
in Megawatiand Gus Dur as symbolsof
use of the political liberties. The healthy growth of the world's third
dignified resistanceagainstSuhartoand
largest democracy depends crucially on the further development and
peaceful improvementwithoutreligious
consolidation of the democracy movement.
andethnicconflicts,alongold idealsfrom
the struggle for independence.No, the
IT was a boringelection, for parachuted and stability through acceptable chances majorproblemis ratherthatit will be very
journalists.Too little violence andcheat- for everyone to influence politics and difficultfor the essentiallytraditionaland
ing to report,andtoo little knowledgeto keeping track of elected politicians. For- conservativepoliticians now elected to
explain why. Comparativelydemocratic eign supportfor democratisation was lim- live up to the expectationsof ordinary
rulesof the gameforcedmuchof the elite ited to electoral arrangements, technical people,especiallyof the broadandessensocialmovementaround
totemporarily
competebymobilisingvotes information, and some promotion of civic tiallyunorganised
ratherthanmanipulatingin closed circles virtuesthroughNGOs, while criticalvoters' PDI-P and Megawati.There might be a
andprovokingreligiousandethnicgroups education of the actual political forces ratherlong honeymoon,especiallyif the
only. Thatwas a victoryof sorts.Except involved was scarce and promotion of economypicksup a bit,butthe factis that
in East Timor,Aceh, West Papuaand a democraticorganisationsamong labourers, votersin the new instantdemocracyhave
few otherplaces,some 100millionpeople farmers,civil servants and employees was been mobilisedthroughold machinesand
finally felt that their vote did matter.In almost absent - not to talk of parties on the traditionalloyalties which do not correa waywe witnessedthebirthof thesecond basis of ideas about how societies work spondwith andmay not be ableto handle
ratherthanthe thirdlargestdemocracyin and may be changed. Such priorities may thenewmajorconflictsandideasinsociety.
the world, since so many Americansdo be in line with a vulgarised version of Let me point to four tendencies:
not even botherto cast their vote.
democracy where partiesarejust machines
(1) The grievancesand aspirationsin
Butwhilethe veryelectionswererather for the election of elite politicians and EastTimor,Aceh,WestPapuaandcertain
free and fair, the context was not so just people can only make some difference otherareaswere virtuallyremovedfrom
andthesubstancewas shallow.Therewas througha myriadof single issue and special the establishedpolitical agendaas local
a lack of reasonablyequal opportunities interest groups. But it is a bit away from parties were not even allowed in local
to makeuse of the politicallibertiesand a more informed understanding of the elections.So now theproblemswill rather
manyfundamentalproblemswere swept dynamics involved and definitely, for popupoutsidethenew democraticframeunderthe carpet.This will hit back and instance, from European, Indian or South work, where they may be even more
this is, therefore,what we should focus African experiences where broad popular difficultto solve. FortunatelyEastTimor
on, if we are interestedin the prospects organisations and parties were essential maybe an exception- if XananaGusmao
for the birth and growth of democracy. prove right in "trustingthe alternative
for stabilityand democracy.
oftheinternational
First,the unjustelectoralsystem. One
Predictably, on the one hand, the Indo- institutions
community".
(2) Even the IMF's fundamentalstrucsingle result was not delayed: that the nesian outcome was, thus, top-down
waskeptoutarmedforceswouldreceivemoreseatsin mobilisation of votes on the basis of turaladjustmentprogramme
the parliamentthanthe major'reformasi' populism andpatron-clientismthroughthe side the election campaign,and even the
leaderAmien Rais' partynow seems to established political machines (Golkar, Asian Wall Street Journal (June 21)
get in the open elections.Further,36 per PDI-P, andPPP) I andthe establishedsocio- questions the fact that the Indonesians
centthedelegateswho will lateron select religious organisations (like NU with its were not allowed to take an independent
the new presidentare notelectedbut will major party PKB, and Muhammadiyah). standon sucha vitalissueinitsdemocratic
be appointedby the militaryand by the On the other hand, the exciting attempt elections. But there seems to be a basic
politicalelite in closed smokyprovincial to form a new liberal middle class party consensusbetween Washingtonand the
rooms.Also beforehand, (PAN) - with secular centre-left politics, Indonesianelite. So neithercan the new
andmetropolitan
ex-communistas well aslocalpartieswere Muslim values andreformasi-leaderAmien instantdemocracyoffer an institutional
prohibited,and remarkablymany seats Rais as a locomotive - proved much more frameworkfor the handlingof people's
wereallottedto provinceswhereGolkars' difficult. The students, moreover - who socio-economic hardshipand protests.
forced the elite to do away with Suharto, Meanwhilegenuinelabouractivistsfind
machineryremainedintact.
Second,theunjustpreconditions.While who were in the forefront for the refor- establishedpoliticsirrelevant,"asit does
Golkarmadegood use of the state appa- mation process and who put pressure on not mattermuchin workers'daily lives".
ratuses and control of foreign-funded the traditional politicians - lost momen- And employersmake up for the loss of
creditsfor co-operativesandsocial safety tum and were marginalised. And since outrightmilitaryinterventionin labour
net programmes,especially on the outer way back genuine development, human disputesby drawingon theirmarketbarislands, self-assertedwesterndemocrats rights and democracy activists often say gainingpowerin timesof crisis,establishgavepriorityto stablegovernmentthrough that their attempts to help people them- ing fake 'unions'andsettinguptheirown
instantelectionsof 'legitime'rulersrather selves to organise are now distorted by the security forces with police and military
thandemocracyin termsof people's rule neo-traditional political competition.
personnelas part-time'consultants'.
INDONESIA
Largest
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Democracy
Economic and Political Weekly
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June 26, 1999
(3) Inview of the ironythatthe western
craftsmenof middleclass democracydid
not manageto make life easier even for
the new liberalPAN party,PAN's own
performance,abandonedas it was by
Muslimstalwartsas well, is a clearindication of the increasingimportanceof
urbanand semi-urbanintellectuals,professionalsandeducatedbusinesspeople.
Some of the democraticpotentialof the
new middle class may now get lost,
however, because of the problems of
makinga differencewithinthe neo-traditionalpoliticalframework.'Alternative'
cynicismandpreferencefor extraparliamentarylobbying and pressure group
activitiesdo not automaticallypromote
democracy.
(4) The achievementsof the PDI-P,the
PKB, the PPP and to some extent PAN
is likely to be interpretedas the returnof
alirianpoliticsbasedon the old culturalcum-religious pillars of the syncretic
combine and the tradiprijaji-abangan'
Muslim'santris',restionalandmodernist
pectively.This seemingly stable pattern,
however,mayratherbe anhangoverfrom
the past in terms of the only available
politicalmachinesandmassorganisations,
while the socio-economic fundamentals
have changed. For instance, while the
nationalist
partybehindMegawati's father,
presidentSukarno,had its major base
among the rulers, administratorsand
educatorsof the state on each and every
level (andtheircapacityto capturevotes),
this strongholdhas since long been capturedby Golkar,whichalso monopolised
the militaryand big business. So below
the surface,Mega's PDI-Pnow seems to
be morerooted in generalanti-monopolistic sentiments,often led by small and
mediumbusinesspeople(includingmany
ethnicChinese)who didnotbenefitmuch
fromprivilegedpolitical contactsunder
Suharto.And partlythis may also be true
of GusDur's PKB. So some of thosenew
leadersare now likely to develop into
localprivatebosses in close contactswith
religiousleadersand militarycommanders. Their resourcesare still scarce, so
contactswith the centre,and democracy
in termsof mobilisingmass support,will
also make sense. Over the years, moreover,theymaynot be able to retaintheir
popularsupportin face of the great expectationsandthe possibleemergenceof
groupsthat try to substitutefor the old
communistsby cateringto the less privileged.Andthemostvitalimmediateissue,
of course,is if andhow PDI-P,PKB and
theirallies will try to 'de-golkarise'the
administration,the military,the public
companiesandthe educationalsystem.A
compromise,as in the Philippines,would
hardly promote stable and democratic
Economic and Political Weekly
developmentbutratheran electedoligarchy. A very first test, therefore,is if the
'pro-reformasi'
partieswill cometogether
and make use of their popularelectoral
mandateto promotegenuinedemocratic
reformistsandpreventmanipulations
and
moneypoliticsin the appointmentof the
200 representatives
fromvarioussections
of the society andthe provinceswho will
join the parliamentin electing the next
president.
To a largeextentthe outcomeof those
fourtendenciesrestswith the capacityof
the genuine democracy movement to
regain the initiative,exert pressureand
offer a political alternativeto the neotraditionalpoliticians and their so far
successful top-down incorporationof
ordinarypeople by way of old machines
and loyalties. The prospectsare not the
best.Despiteall advancesthereis still no
unified democratic front. While some
leaderspreferto work within the established parties, others have been
Themovementremainsfragmarginalised.
mented,focuses on single issues or generalpropagandaandoften fails to linkup
withgrassrootsactivitiesin civil society.
Leading activists often say that such
localactionsstandandfall withtheirown
politicaladvancesatthecentre.Of course,
the fall of Suhartowas critical.But the
centralstructuresof authoritarianism
are
crumblingandtheeconomyis inshambles.
Politics will be more localised and the
economy more privatised, if not demonopolised.So a strongerdemocracy
movementmaynow growfrombelow.In
the centralJava village of Gebjock,for
instance, in Karanganyarregency right
afterthe fall of Suharto,a few dissidents
askeddemocracyactivistsin Solo forhelp
to sue theircorrupt'lurah'(villagehead).
The advice, however, was that nothing
would change unless they themselves
linked up with others and sought the
supportof thevillagersin general.So this
theydid.A 'komite'reformasiwasformed
to fight the lurahwho had appropriated
money for a fresh water project,overchargedpeople for land certificatesand
privatisedpublic land in favour of his
cronies.Demonstrations,
forinstance,were
heldatthelurah's andregent's offices(the
lurah is still legally responsibleto the
'bupati'ratherthanto the villagers).The
lurah's office wasoccupiedfortwoweeks,
and an absolutemajorityof the villagers
came forwardto preventthe militaryand
the police from intervening.When the
lurahwasbroughtto trialandtemporarily
discharged,the committeecontinuedits
work with regularmeetings and public
gatherings, initiated a co-operative to
supportagriculture,addedthe disclosing
of localGolkarleaders'usageof thepublic
social safety net for its own political
purposes, and now discusses how to gear
up by demanding total reformation of the
local administration. And this is not dependent on the ups and downs in the rate
of foreign-reporteddemonstrationsin front
of Hotel Indonesia.
The committee members are hardly
revolutionaries. The chairman is a local
factory mechanic in his mid-20s. Other
members include a retired schoolteacher
who used to huntcommunists in the 1960s,
a properly dressed local businessman and
a farmer-cum-agricultural worker. Their
party affiliations vary, some support
PDI-P, others the small NU-based PNU
and one the conservative Muslim PBB.
"But it doesn't matter",they say, jokingly
picking at each other. "That'sjust general
and traditional affiliations. The important
thing is our list of what should be done
here."
My fear is that they will be co-opted and
divided by the newly elected politicians
on the regency level. Their own response
is that they do not know what will happen
but that they want to hold on to their own
programme and relate to similar committees in nearby villages, and if possible on
'higher' levels too. I asked if they knew of
any such committee 'up there' - but of
course they did not, since almost none
exists.
Between hope and reality one may
wonder, thus, if it is really beyond the
capacity of the politically more 'advanced'
pro-democrats at the more central levels
to learn from Gebjock, unite on more
aggregate but yet concrete minimum platforms (ratherthan acting as isolated pressuregroupsor ideological spearheadsonly)
and thus help provide links between
committees on different levels (before they
too are infected by neo-traditional politics)? At any rate, the healthy growth of
the world's third largest democracy depends largely on the furtherdevelopment
of the democracy movement.
Note
I PDI-P is Megawati's Democratic Party of
Struggle (which may get some 35 per cent of
the votes but less mandates); Golkar is the
incumbentparty(about21 percent of the votes
but a much largershareof the mandates);PPP
is the old established Muslim United
Development Party(around 10 per cent of the
votes); PKB is the new secular National
Awakening Party (about 15 per cent of the
votes but much less mandates) that is based
on the traditional Muslim Nathladul Ulama
Wahid
(NU) organisationled by Abdurrahman
(Gus Dur); PNU is a minor Muslim partythat
is also based on NU; PAN is the new National
MandatePartywith Amien Rais as its leader
(some 7 per cent of the votes); PBB is the
conservativemodernistMuslim CrescentStar
Party (perhaps 2 per cent of the votes).
June 26, 1999
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1667