An Indonesian Democracy: limits of a majoritarian democracy

Ben Kristian Citto Laksana

doi:10.26593/jihi.v12i2.2649.133-142

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;">Indonesia has continuously been praised as a successful post-authoritarian country transitioning to democracy. However, seeing the numerous human rights violations in the past decade alone especially towards alternative political, religious and sexual identities, the success of democracy in Indonesia has been put under the spotlight. This raises the question of the development of democracy and the use of democracy in Indonesia in practicing and upholding principles of social equality for all. In this article I wish to provide an overview of majoritarian democracy, a form of democracy that is understood and practiced in Indonesia. A form of democracy that rather than upholding values that safeguards individual rights and diversity, may in fact undermine religious and cultural diversity, enforcing a homogenized national culture and values, which in return may engender human rights violations in the name of national security that it in itself is defined by the majority.</p>

Highlights

The globalization of political process has increasingly resulted in the homogenization of how politics is performed namely through successive „waves‟ of democratic transition
The usage of musyawarah and mufakat is reiterated and prioritized as one of the core aims of the curriculum. Such for instance the senior high school curriculum, was aimed to “encourage a culture of democracy that prioritizes musyawarah and mufakat and national integrity in the context of NKRI”.30. What this information provides is how the government intends to define the development of democracy in Indonesia, namely by limiting democracy through a definition of Indonesia‟s culture that does not center on individual rights but communal interests
Indonesia has constantly been praised as a nation-state that is successful in transitioning to a democracy from an authoritarian regime, and as democracy that can thrive with a Muslim majority

Summary

Introduction

The globalization of political process has increasingly resulted in the homogenization of how politics is performed namely through successive „waves‟ of democratic transition. The potential result of this, as Cederman et al further considers, are how countries in transitions to democracy, such as Indonesia, opens up formerly strict political spaces yet due to weak political institutions and the exploitation of populist ideals, the „elite competition‟ is ineffectively regulated and “may cause civil war”.7 In examining these diversity issues it is tempting to understand it through Samuel Huntington‟s rationale, in which he argues that as many cultures contradict with the values of democracy not all societies are likely to develop fully democratic institutions.[8] Yet to look through such a narrow perspective would be to sacralize democracy and solely condemn everything external of democracy. The international community has constantly praised Indonesia as a prime example of Islam and democracy living side by side peacefully yet the unfavorable and unintended outcomes of a majoritarian democracy towards the marginalized communities coupled with the unacknowledged growth of values limiting diversity may only have further aggravated socio-political and religious tensions within Indonesia‟s society

Globalizing democracy

Something of a growing occurrence within

Conclusion

Findings

Seeing how Indonesia manages