Jakarta – The country has encountered a setback in the recent legislative elections, but this should not discourage efforts to continuously preserve and improve its hard-won democracy, a discussion heard Saturday.
Participants at the discussion agreed that despite the voter list fiasco and rampant reports of vote buying that marred the election, the nation relished voters' display of freedom and maturity.
"There are some positive notes concerning the elections, such as the fact there was more freedom and voters exercised their wisdom in selecting candidates and did not take into account religious fanaticism and tribal fragmentation, which is good for democracy," said Muhammadiyah scholar Siti Musdah Mulia.
She warned the unaddressed issues of poverty and social injustice would continue to haunt the development of democracy in the country. "The longer the issues stay unresolved, the more the people will doubt the compatibility of the presidential and multiparty systems," she said.
"In the long run, people will question the legitimacy of democracy in answering those issues, and there is always a chance for certain groups to exploit the disquiet and bring back the authoritarian regime in the name of religion or nationalism."
Catholic priest and philosopher Franz-Magnis Suseno said the democracy in place in Indonesia had yet to reach its full potential and would take time before it could bear fruit.
"We cannot expect democracy to solve all problems all at once, but it will take time. The most important thing is to use the current democratic system as a benchmark for future improvement," he said.
Senior lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said the multiparty presidential system had given the country nothing but trouble over the last five years.
"We saw repeated tension between the government and the legislature in the last five years, which caused tremendous inefficiency in the country's governance. Therefore it is crucial to reform the governance system to improve democracy," he said.
He added Indonesia had tried many different systems in the past and none had proved to work.
"We tried a presidential system that awarded huge power to the president and the government during the Old Order and New Order, but we all know both systems ended up in dictatorship," he said.
"So I think Indonesia should try a semi-presidential system, in which the governance is run by the president and a prime minister. The president will play a symbolic role and take care of essential issues such as defense, while the prime minister will be in charge of daily governance of the nation." (hdt)