Jakarta – Majority of Indonesians believe in elections as a means to influence political decision-making processes and support democracy, according to a survey by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).
IFES country director Peter Erben said on Thursday the survey, conducted nationwide from Aug. 20-27 and funded by the Australian Agency for International Development, focused mainly on issues of democracy and elections as well as social and economic trends since last year's general elections.
"This is a survey involving a large number of respondents and is expected to be a good representation of the country's population," Eben said. The study surveyed 2,500 Indonesian men and women of various ages and from varied economic and educational backgrounds in all 33 provinces.
In terms of the perception of voting, around 78 percent of those surveyed in 2010 agreed that voting provided them with the opportunity to influence political decisions, a 6 percent increase compared to 2008. Only 13 percent of the respondents this year said they disagreed with the idea.
The study also revealed that the majority of respondents (62 percent) said religion still played an influential role in how they vote. The figure, however, is a 17 percent decrease from 2008.
According to Rakesh Sharma, the director of the F. Clinton White Applied Research Center at IFES in Washington DC, the high level of positive responses to voting corresponded positively with the public's approval of Indonesia's democratic form of government.
"In one of the follow-up questions, we asked the respondents to choose the most favorable form of government for the country," Sharma added.
He said the level of support for a democratic government in the country was high, about 72 percent, while around 20 percent of the respondents believed that the matter was not important. In addition, only 4 percent of those surveyed favor a non-democratic government.
Commenting on the survey results, a senior political researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Syamsuddin Haris, said "the fact that majority of respondents believe in the power of voting is a positive thing. It means the public is aware about the importance of political participation in elections."
Syamsuddin highlighted the reason why many Indonesians still lacked an understanding of democracy. "I think that phenomenon is normal, as we were under the authoritarian regime of Soeharto for 32 years. The people still need time to understand democracy," he said.
Education and promoting public awareness about democracy are effective in ensuring the public understands the value of democracy, according to Syamsuddin.
"For a country with a very young democracy like Indonesia, it is not the people who enjoy the benefits of democracy, but the political elite," Syamsuddin said. (tsy)