Amien Rais asks: What about economic democracy?

JAKARTA (JP): Leading Moslem scholar Amien Rais lashed out at campaigners for democracy recently for giving undue emphasis to civil and political rights at the expense of people's economic rights.

Speaking at a seminar held by the Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) yesterday, Amien acknowledged that even the campaign for political democratization still faces many obstacles.

"Indonesian people have yet to enjoy their political rights because there are too many restrictions, such as on freedom of speech and expression, and on the press," he said.

"Economic democratization, however, fares even worse," Amien, who is member of ICMI and leader of the 28 million-strong Muhammadiyah organization, told over 100 participants.

Discrepancies are rampant, and "strategic keys to national economics" are controlled by a privileged few, he pointed out.

The recent declaration by a handful of business leaders in Jimbaran, Bali, about their intention to help reduce the social gap, he said, was proof of "excessive arrogance".

"Not only is it excessive arrogance, it also shows that practices of monopoly, oligopoly still represent a big block toward the achievement of economic democratization," Amien said.

"Most of our intellectuals believe that democratization covers only the political and civil rights of the people," he said. "Human rights and democracy campaigners also tend to eliminate social and economic basic rights from their discourse."

He blamed the neglect on, among other things, the domination of Western countries' concepts of democratization. "When the Western middle class struggled for democracy from the feudal power holders, they demanded political and civil rights rather than social and economic rights, which they already solidly built," he said.

It does not help that many Western bodies hold the purse strings of the Indonesian campaigners for democracy, especially the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) activists, he added.

Indonesia, Amien said, needs to struggle for both political and social-economic democratization. "Freedom from hunger, from hopelessness, from ignorance, from disease are more important, at least as important as political and civil rights," he said.

The two-day discussion entitled ICMI and the face of Indonesia in the future was held as part of a series of activities to greet the organization's second congress in December. Besides Amien, yesterday's speakers included noted military observer Sayidiman Suryohadiprojo, educator Conny Semiawan and former student activist Eki Syachrudin.

Amien said ICMI "has the moral obligation to help establish economic democracy", as also mandated by Islam.

The organization, established in 1990, is chaired by State Minister for Research and Technology B.J. Habibie and manned by prominent figures such as Minister of Education Wardiman Djojonegoro. It now has over 300 branches both across Indonesia and abroad.

Amien said ICMI should strive to "change the orientation and the programs of the superstructure so that the policies taken are more people-oriented".

"Don't let the Indonesian government become an administration which cares more about the shoes of wealthy people than about the livelihood of the poor people".

"The intellectual and political struggle of ICMI should aim for an Indonesia which is independent of various foreign traps, including the debt trap," he said. "This is easier said than done, but it's a challenge for ICMI."

In addition, ICMI should contribute to the social and economic empowerment of the lower layers of society.

"These layers need moral support and concrete actions in order to help the people gradually rise from the apathy and fatalism that have widely affected them," Amien said.

Today, the discussion will feature, among others, Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid and senior journalist Jacob Oetama. (swe)