Maintaining Confidence in Democracy
A number of improvements have been made during the 20 years of the Reformation Era. One of the most urgent tasks still outstanding, however, is addressing the economic gap.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — After two decades of the Reformation Era, a number of indicators show that Indonesia is generally improving in social, economic and political aspects. However, the income and wealth gap, which has remained high over the past two decades, has caused in Indonesia a latent threat of eroded trust in the community, which has the potential to destabilize social cohesion.
Some of Indonesia\'s achievements over the last 20 years reflect in its Human Development Index (HDI) reading. If in 1999 Indonesia\'s HDI was at 64.30, by 2017 it was already at 70.81, which makes Indonesia a country with a high HDI score.
The high HDI category is defined as 70.00-79.99 points. Higher values reflect a higher quality of life.
The Global Democratic Status Index of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) also shows that Indonesia improved in all indicators over the 1998-2015 period. On the representative government indicators, Indonesia’s value rose from 0.40 (1998) to 0.71 (2015). The same was true on human rights (from 0.42 to 0.57), government control (0.37 to 0.61) and impartial administration (0.31 to 0.45). The closer to a value of 1, the better the achievement of a country.
However, the gap in Indonesia is also getting wider. Indonesia’s gini coefficient, which in 1999 was at 0.311, exceeded 0.413 in 2012 and then 0.414 in 2014. That number has slightly decreased over the last three years to 0.391 in September 2017. The gini coefficient ranges from 0-1; values closer to 0 signify a more even distribution of wealth or income.
Reports by Oxfam and International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development in 2017 note that wealth inequality in Indonesia is more severe than income inequality.
Gadjah Mada University Professor of Politics and Governance Purwo Santoso warned on Saturday (19/05/2018) that the gap could have negative effects if it is related to politicization, certain incidents or certain local context. For example, in Indonesia there is a sociological dichotomy with certain groups dominating the economy and others ordinary society. This situation is vulnerable to being framed for political interests.
Distrust
The head of the Political Research Center at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Firman Noor, added that the gap entailed a risk of growing social distrust.
In the United States and European countries, the gap has become the key theme used by populists to influence public opinion. This can then also make social cohesion vulnerable, because the people feel there is a gap between the oppressed "us" and "you", who enjoy benefits from the regime.
Stagnating democratic development is one of the contributors to the increasingly severe inequality. From the side of procedural and symbolic democracy, said Firman, Indonesia was improving. However, substantively, Indonesian democracy was dominated by an oligarchy that was far from an effort to serve the interests of society and involve the community.
"The implementation and the control of policy is in the hands of the oligarchs. In effect, many programs or policies are good, but not implemented properly," said Firman.
The executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Philips J Vermonte, said that, after the Reformation Era, there was hope that economic prosperity would go hand in hand with democracy.
"In practice, there are democratic countries where the level of welfare is not high, such as India. Meanwhile, there are also undemocratic countries that are prosperous, such as Indonesia in the 1970s-1980s, or China and Singapore at present. In other countries, like the United States and the Scandinavian countries, there is prosperity where democracy lives," he said.
By looking at these three models, Philips hopes the public will not rush in assessing the failure of democracy. During the 20 years of Reformation Era, many good things have been achieved, such as the freedom of the press and a multiparty system that allows the House of Representatives to exercise better supervision.
"Therefore, in the context of democracy in Indonesia, expectations of welfare must be managed, and [people must be assured] that democracy will ultimately bring prosperity," he said.
This must be done immediately, Philips said, because the distrust on democracy was becoming a great threat to the democratization that has been going on for 20 years. The crack in social cohesion, which is characterized by a lack of mutual trust and sharper group distinctions in community life, is one of the negative effects of the inequality and the lack of prosperity. The government has a tough task to lessen the imbalance and foster optimism over the ongoing democratization.
"Political elites are obliged to maintain high public confidence in a state and government that are managed in democratic and transparent ways,” Philips said.
(AGE/REK/IAN/MHD/GAL)