Indonesia's Democracy: Which Direction is it Moving?
Baladas Ghoshal, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies

Indonesia's democratic experiment, though nascent and in a transitional phase, shows that despite controversy about aspects of electoral system, various disputed results and criticism of the quality of electoral administration in the last parliamentary elections, it has now a functioning and tested system of democratic elections. It has certainly not been affected by the "democratic rollback" that has struck some democratizing countries that appeared to be part of a wave of democratization in the last part of the 20th century. The bamboo-shoots-following-a-spring-rain growth of elections around the world resulted in many believing that democracies are established in those countries. Soon enough scholars on democracy realized that moving away from 'authoritarianism' does not necessarily entail moving towards 'democracy'. The 'transition' paradigm has come under increasing criticism in recent years, and a number of new theories have emerged that attempt to describe post-authoritarian political environments, such as Larry Diamond's theory of 'hybrid regimes' and the concept of 'semi-authoritarian regimes' articulated by Marina Ottaway. Indonesia is an anomaly, always a hybrid of two different systems in running a state. It's presidential but partly parliamentary. It's not a federal state but comes close to one in practice. Even in its decentralization mechanism, for example, there is no clear structure of relations between the central government and local ones. The provincial governments, in practice, are meant only to manage cross-municipal issues and be a representative of the central government, while at the same time, the governors, heads of provinces, are directly elected by the people in the provinces. However, if we look beyond the state itself, its institutions and practices, then we can get different picture.The empirical accounts of social activists and 'extra-parliamentary actors' working outside of formal institutional frameworks that informs political dynamics away from political elites either as the main bearers of authoritarian values and practices, or as the vanguard of 'democratization' need to be articulated in order to get a more inclusive definition of politics and power that includes voices and practices often ignored or marginalised. Practically all the forces that were pushing for change during the anti-Soeharto agitation have joined the government, leaving the opposition quite weak and confused. This has led to the emergence of outside groups who are now taking the actual lead in laying down foundations for a civil society capable of pushing for change. Throughout Indonesia, previously uninvolved teachers, workers, journalists, poets and novelists are breaking away from the corporatism of the Soeharto regime, and are creating a whole range of new institutions. These aim to fight corruption, resist violence and work for human rights.

Baladas Ghoshal, currently Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi and a honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, is a former Professor of Southeast Asia and South-West Pacific Studies and Chairman of the Centre for South and Southeast Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Professor Ghoshal is a doyen of Indonesian studies in India and had been involved with it for more than 45 years. He has published two books, edited one and contributed many chapters in books edited by others on Indonesia and has been a great friend of Indonesia. Recently back from Japan where he was a Visiting Professor of International Relations first at the International Christian University, Tokyo and then at Nagoya City University, Professor Ghoshal has taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1990-91) National University of Malaysia (1998-1999), University of Malaya (2000) and the Universiti Utara Malaysia (2002-2003). He has held Senior Fulbright Fellowships at the Cornell and Rutgers Universities (1983-84); Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore (1985-86); Ford-ACDIS Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Centre for Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong (Sept.-Oct.2003), Consultant to the United Nations Support Facility for Indonesian Recovery (UNSFIR) for 3 months (November 2003-January 2004). A leading expert on Indonesian politics and society, Professor Ghoshal has published extensively on Indonesian politics, ASEAN and regional security issues, South Asian regional security and political developments. A nominator for the Magsaysay Award for International Understanding, Professor Ghoshal is a network member of the Asia-Pacific Round Table; India-ASEAN forum and a consultant to the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. Professor Ghoshal is a Member of the International Committee for promotion of Malay Language of Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka, Malaysia and a Contributing Editior for Asian Defence Journal. Widely traveled in the Asia-Pacific region, Professor Ghoshal reads, writes and speaks Malay and Bahasa Indonesia.

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