Recession of Democracy
It is worth discussing the 2019 Democracy Index issued by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Indonesia is categorized as a country with a flawed democracy, far below Timor Leste and Malaysia.
The index measured the development of democratic countries in the world, categorizing them among four types of regimes, namely full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.
The index concludes that 22 countries are considered to be very democratic, 54 countries are still considered flawed democracies, 37 countries are gripped by hybrid regimes, and the remaining 54 countries are controlled by authoritarian regimes. Indonesia is ranked 64th out of 167 countries. Timor Leste ranks 41st and Malaysia ranks the 43rd. Why are our democratic achievements under Timor Leste and Malaysia? What went wrong in the development of our democracy in the past five years?
Three backward indicators
The Economist Intelligence Unit assessed the development of a country\'s democracy from four things, namely the electoral process and pluralism, government functions, political participation, as well as political culture and civil liberties.
Indonesian democracy in terms of the electoral process and pluralism obtained the highest score (7.92) compared to the other three indicators, whose scores were lower. Even though the government had been working and working, the score of government functions was classified as poor, only 7.14. The rest, indicators of political participation were also low (6.11), political culture (5.63) and civil liberties (5.59).
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The issue of political participation whose score was not encouraging was in contrast with the highest level of public participation in the 2019 elections. Nearly 81 percent of voters went to the polling stations (TPS) and exercised their rights. The high participation rate was a record in the history of elections in the reform era.
The issue is why was it considered unfavorable by EIU so that it affected the final score of the Indonesian Democracy Index, which was only 6.48.
There are methodologically two possibilities. First, the Economist\'s 2019 Democracy Index survey was not based on factual data, such as the assessment bases used by the Indonesian Democracy Index (IDI). The Economist used the "perception" of experts to fill out questionnaires, which of course could be different from the results of IDI, which was more fact-based. Second, there could be different meanings (could also be subjective) regarding the situation and conditions of democracy that were being experienced by a country, including Indonesia.
As an illustration, even though political participation in the 2019 elections was very high, 81 percent — up 11 percent compared to the 2014 Legislative Elections (70 percent) and up 6 percent compared to the 2014 Presidential Election (75 percent) — a double phenomenon.
What is meant by a double phenomenon? The participation rate was influenced by socio-political divisions on the one hand and the strength of "identity politics" as an instrument in political battles on the other. Political contestation always dragged on "irrational passions". The narrative of democracy was confined by the sentiment of two divided camps. The public and voters were caged by the discourse of "We and You" as a form of antagonism of political stance and actions that were always antagonistic, contradictory, and considered "enemies".
This issue also caused the value of Indonesian political culture in the EIU Democracy Index to get a small score due to ambivalent or hypocritical political narratives. This ambivalence could be seen from the deterioration in the way of politics, especially in choosing issues in political contestation due to the strengthening of the issue of populism that was almost used by all elites, both the governing and the opposition (political opponents). Left and right populism strengthened in the form of political speeches and political promises in campaigns. In fact, in a democratic life populism was considered as a threat to democracy when the dominant populism was religious-minded populism (right) on the one hand and ideological/propaganda-spirited left populism and antidemocratic primordialism.
Political ideas and thoughts were more rhetorical in the frame of political speeches by the elite which were increasingly aimed at mobilizing the masses and political support. Contextualization of ideas in the electoral process which demanded the necessity of political support was not accompanied by smart campaigns that encouraged voters to fill public space with progressive ideas.
Deeply slumping
With such a situation, we need to realize that our political culture of democracy has deteriorated considerably. Apart from the consequences of political transactions and political pragmatism, blasphemous, anti-difference and disrespectful culture has robbed peaceful politics as a hallmark of the democratic political culture building.
Democracy does not allow anarchy, as Robert A Dahl said, but the basis of democratic culture is a culture of "obedience" to the system and rules of law, not coercion of one\'s own will and the will which is the most correct. The phenomena of mutual blasphemy, political sarcasm, and the act of reporting one another have polluted the freedom of association and civil liberties in Indonesia.
Democracy does not allow anarchy.
Such an atmosphere by The Economist is called the accumulation of circumstances that can cause democracy to experience a recession (recession of democracy), a new term that replaces the old term in referring to the decline of democracy. The term recession of democracy borrows economic terms in a greater way such as an economic recession that can be interpreted as a setback or stagnation (not experiencing changes of the situation).
It is no wonder that with the accumulation of the four indicators used by The Economist, Indonesia\'s democratic rankings is left behind by Timor Leste, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Nevertheless, there are still advantages, Indonesia\'s ranking is still better than several other countries in ASEAN, such as Singapore and Thailand, as well as countries in other regions, such as the Middle East and Latin America, and India.
Message for Indonesia
The message of the 2019 Democracy Index issued by The Economist needs to be captured by Indonesia, besides being a means of detecting the ongoing democratic development, as well as being a warning.
First, the message is very clear and unequivocal that democracy is experiencing a setback or stagnation. Such setbacks are not just occurring in Indonesia but also in other countries of the hemisphere, such as in the United States and the European Union.
Second, the recession of democracy is manifested by a condition, which I believe its scope borrows the concept of economic recession, which is generally caused by a situation that can cause a crisis or an unstable situation. Indicators of the political crisis are marked, among others, by an increase in pressure on popular government, more protests will occur, the influence of non-expert institutions preferred by the regime, the disappearance of large-scale national issues for the interests of politicians, and the "veiled " influence of experts/advisers in government. There are also symptoms of a widening gap between the political elite and parties on the one hand and voters on the other and the rise of hoaxes.
A stagnant democracy is like an economy without growth. There is a problem here that the stagnation of democracy will result in a less optimal functioning of the democratic government, which ideally is required to be present in every problem of society.
One of the issues that needs to be underlined is the fact that the recession of democracy in Indonesia is triggered by the factor of civil liberties that has not improved. The situation needs to be changed by the government so that the future development of our democracy does not experience a crisis and even a deficit.
Moch Nurhasim, Researcher at the Political Research Center-LIPI