Yeremia Sukoyo – Despite a series of graft scandals that have hit the courts, political parties and other democratic institutions, two out of three Indonesians still believe democracy is the best political system, a new survey finds.

Some 68 percent of respondents said they considered a democratic system a much better choice compared to other forms of government, according to a survey by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). Only 22 percent disagreed with the statement, while the remaining respondents said they did not know.

"This figure shows that there is relatively high support for democracy, even though the level of support is still lower than the average level of support in countries with established democracies," LIPI researcher Wawan Ichwanuddin said.

The survey also showed that the majority of respondents, or about 67 percent, believed the country was already democratic, while 71 percent said that the system of democracy suits Indonesia.

He said the survey results have provided further evidence that Indonesia is unlikely to fall back into an authoritarian regime, like under Suharto's New Order.

Concerns that a growing number of dissatisfied groups and individuals would challenge the system and destabilize the nation, crippling potential social and economic development, were also likely unfounded in light of the survey results, Wawan added.

However, many people do appear fed up with the endless scandals involving political parties and other institutions, with most respondents saying they did not trust the justice system, lawmakers and politicians. Respondents also said those institutions have failed to do their jobs.

All parties must participate in fixing the country's democratic institutions, Wawan said, because if these institutions fail to carry out their functions people will gradually lose their faith in democracy.

A previous survey by the National Survey Institute (LSN) also showed that the public's confidence in democracy was still high, though trust in political parties and the justice system was low.

Dozens of high-ranking officials, politicians and lawmakers have been arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the last several years. The recent arrest by the antigraft body of Akil Mochtar, Constitutional Court chief justice, for accepting bribes is the latest in a of series of recent scandals involving senior officials.

Many in the country, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have said these scandals threaten to bring down the very foundation of the country's legal system and democracy.

Meanwhile, political analyst Yudi Latief said that in the 15 years since the fall of Suharto's totalitarian regime, Indonesia has been unable to overcome many problems related to democracy. If these problems continue to go unaddressed they could lead to public skepticism, Yudi added.

"The main problem lies in politicians' inability to build the public's trust," he said, adding that certain political parties and politicians had distorted the law, using it to serve their narrow political interests.

Yudhi attributed the public's lack of trust in politics to parties and party leaders who are unable to offer solutions to many of the nation's problems. But despite this lack of trust, the high level of public trust in the democratic process more generally suggests that voter turnout in next year's legislative and presidential elections would be high, said Firman Noor, a political analyst from LIPI.

While Firman expects high turnout next year, he said this would be tempered by the general distrust of political parties, which could result in a high rate of golput – the deliberate defacing of a ballot or casting of an invalid vote to express displeasure at the choice of candidates or parties.

"There's nothing wrong with anti-party democracy, but what we can't have is people being anti-democracy," Firman said. "More people may be moved to cast an invalid ballot."

He said that among the issues aggravating public opinion of political parties and politicians were their poor performance at regional and national legislative levels, their constant internal bickering and stalled membership drives by most of the established parties.