Many people thus hope that the 2019 general election will not be filled with mere ritual politics rituals and mantras, but also a means for national solidarization and political education for the nation.
By
J KRISTIADI
·5 minutes read
The governance of state power has been overhauled several times since Indonesian independence, dubbed Liberal Democracy (1950s), Guided Democracy (1960s) and Pancasila Democracy (late 1960s-late 1990s). However, the practice of state power management in the post-reform era has no precedence.
Many circles agree that the practice of democracy today has developed nearly uncontrollably and indiscriminately, slamming into the glorious standards of the life of the nation and state. Democracy is only fixed as a political ritualistic device of the elite to gain the legitimacy of the state to satisfy their desire for power.
The democratic process has simply become mantra and political ceremony. This has been done by reciting and interpreting remarks on the articles and paragraphs of the Constitution and attending regulations, in accordance with the instinctive interests of individuals, cronies and their groups. This “mantra democracy” is a vicious cycle that emerges from the misguided intention to make and use regulations that are rife and cluttered with transactions, which become the foundation to produce even more regulations yet again.
Whether they are aware or not, this process turns mantra democracy into an idol that is ready to destabilize the order of the nation and state. In the original mythical universe this idol was a knight, but because of the prodigious thrill of anger and greed, he has turned into a giant, crushing and destroying the world order.
So it is that a democracy laden with noble values can be turned into an idol, because the political elite is possessed by a raging desire for power.
The very real and dramatic example that is making people anxious is the revision of Law No. 17/2014 on Legislative Institutions (UU MD3). The original revision, which was initially limited to increasing the number of leaders in the House of Representatives, has now been expanded throughout, particularly in adding to a number of articles that many consider to have murdered democracy: the article on attacking the honor of the House (Article 122), the obligation of the police to forcibly escort those parties that do not fulfill the summons of the House (Article 73), and the decision of the House Ethics Council (MKD) for House members who are alleged of committing crimes (Article 245).
The tragedy is that these articles were drawn up without any public or academic input. In fact, Law No. 12/2011 on the Formulation of Laws and Regulations, particularly Article 96, Paragraph 1, stipulates: "The public has the right to provide inputs orally and/or in writing in the Formation of Legislation.” Unfortunately, this very meaningful provision is akin to a sequence of dead letters devoid of meaning. Public participation as a political institution that is integral to political legitimacy has been muzzled by “mantra democracy”.
Even if public reviews were conducted, understanding the paradigm and the horizon of legislation, or legal politics, is increasingly dominated by debate and rhetoric, not dialogue. These things are very different, as debate only aims to defeat the other person, while dialogue is a rational discourse that attempts to discover the common good, dignity and justice, and to acknowledge the positive aspects of the views of political opponents. Dialogue does not merely try to justify one side’s views.
The other event that has shocked the public is the ruling of the Constitutional Court that has positioned the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as part of the executive branch of government. This contradicts the court’s four earlier decisions in decrees No. 012-016-019/PUU-IV/2006, No. 19/PUU-V/2007, No. 37-39/PUU-VIII/2010 and No. 5/PUU-2011, amid four Constitutional Court justices voicing their dissent. The public protests over the light sanctions the Constitutional Court\'s Ethics Council handed down, and pressure from 54 professors of various universities that the chief justice resign were unsuccessful. The person in question remains seated firmly on his "throne" (Kompas, 10/2).
The idol of mantra democracy shows that Indonesia’s democracy is in crisis. This alarming phenomenon also hit Western Europe, America and Asia about 50 years ago (Crozier, Michel J, SP Huntington, J Watanuki, The Crisis of Democracy: Report on the Governability of Democracies to the Trilateral Commission (Triangle Papers), 1975).
Willy Brandt feared that democracy in Western Europe would last only for the next 20 years to 30 years because it was surrounded by authoritarian countries. Britain was also concerned that parliamentary democracy would be threatened by dictatorships. Former Japanese prime minister Takeo Miki, on his first day in office, said that the Japanese democracy would collapse. Meanwhile, the United States saw a decline in public confidence in its leadership and political institutions, the decaying party system, and so forth. However, the report also mentions that the cause of the crisis was the very success of democracy, including the increasing middle class who demanded a better life.
In Indonesia, the main cause is the lack of discourse on ideas, and which has led to narrowed public views on the ideas and ideals of the nation. Many people thus hope that the 2019 general election will not be filled with mere ritual politics rituals and mantras, but also a means for national solidarization and political education for the nation. As a result, the idol of mantra democracy will disappear to be replaced by a democracy that honors a life of unity.
J KRISTIADI, Senior Researcher, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)