CAN an election be won through a hate campaign? Yes, it can. The history of the world is a diorama of political and economic struggle based on hatred.
Mein Kampf, the work of Adolf Hitler, is the holy book of hatred against race and democracy, “All occurrences in world history are only the expression of the races’ instinct of self-preservation.” Six million Jews were killed and democracy was destroyed with Nazi totalitarianism although the Nazis won power through a democratic election.
Listen to Il Duce, fascist totalitarianism brought about by Benito Mussolini, “There is no compromise between totalitarianism and democracy!” Both totalitarianism regimes, the Nazis and Fascism, were buried by democracy.
But, the fight for democracy was never linear. Democracy has faced various authoritarian and totalitarian movements attempting to destroy it. Such challenges, at national and transnational levels also challenged our own democracy: the Pancasila democracy.
Six arenas of consolidation
Juan J Linz and Alfred Stephan in Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation researched the process of transition from authoritarian regime to democracy, especially the dynamics of democracy consolidation post authoritarian/totalitarian regime. Linz and Stephan’s research only suggested consolidation in five arenas of democratic consolidation that must be controlled by democrats in order to maintain and set the direction of the democracy being fought for, namely (1) political society, (2) economic society, (3) civil society, (4) bureaucracy and (5) rule of law.
Even, Samuel P Huntington believed if the democratic transition took place through two elections, the democratic consolidation could happen (the Third Wave of Democratization 1995) and democracy could settle after two generations, just like in Germany and Japan.
However, 19 years after the May 1998 democratic revolution, the process of democratic transition in Indonesia still faces the danger of authoritarianism/totalitarianism from new transnational political, economic and social authoritarian/totalitarian ideology. What was forgotten during the 19 years after the May 1998 democracy revolution, which is not mentioned by Linz, Stephan and Huntington, is the arena of democratic ideology. They assumed democratic ideology existed and ran with the procedural democratic practices in the five arenas.
In Indonesia, the ideology arena means the arena to foster Pancasila. The problems in democratic transition and consolidation in Indonesia consists of six arenas, namely (1) ideology (Pancasila), (2) political society, (3) economic society, (4) civil society and (5) rule of law and bureaucracy.
Value, voters and post-truth
Voters are essential to the democratic process, the embodiment of all values in Pancasila. The value of Pancasila serves as conditio sine qua non of our democratic life. Voters are the owners of people’s sovereignty. During general elections, voters can become the heroes of democracy. Either way, they can become victims of manipulation.
The findings from the Kompas Research Center exit polls during the April 19 Jakarta gubernatorial election showed 34.3 percent of voters made their choice based on similarity of religion and only 22.9 percent based on political programs. However, votes based on honesty and character of the candidates stood at 42.8 percent.
The fake information, hoax and faux arguments used as campaign strategy, plus threats, hatred and fear, placed voters as victims. This went against the value of Pancasila.
This post-truth strategy has been developing across the world post-Trump, “A president who peddles falsehoods and dabbles in conspiracy confronts the challenge of governing in reality” (Time, 2017: 21), the one who sells falsehood, hatred and conspiracy whose multiplying effect assisted by the Internet and social media influences voters.
Falsehood and hatred become truth in a post-truth world.
Huntington says: “The wheel of history does not move forward following a straight line. But, if it is pushed by leaders with ideology and skill, the wheel of history will move forward definitely.”
Completing transitions and consolidation
Pancasila can only survive if there are enough democrats to fight for its values and ideology as a way of life and as the working ideology in the six arenas of democratic consolidation. Thus, our struggle will be “zo helder als glas! (clear as glass!)” said Bung Karno in Indonesia Menggugat (1930:84).
M FADJROEL RACHMAN
Chairman of Pedoman Research, Communication & Consulting (PRCC)
