Brief Notes from Coordinating Minister Yusril's Dissertation Defence

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections, Prof Yusril Ihza Mahendra, officially earned his doctoral degree in Philosophy from the Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia (UI), yesterday. This is his second doctorate, following his completion of doctoral studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1993. At UI, Coordinating Minister Yusril successfully defended his dissertation titled ‘Reinterpreting Mohammad Natsir’s Thought on the Relationship between Islam and the State: A Philosophical Inquiry Using a Phenomenological-Existential Hermeneutic Approach.’ Yusril observed that the main idea of the Father of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Natsir, in the form of theistic democracy, is highly worthy of attention and development. This is especially so after witnessing the implementation of the demands of Reformasi. Far from being increasingly well-implemented, it appears to be fading further over time. In fact, Yusril stated in his dissertation, the state seems to be sinking deeper into non-democratic practices that endanger democracy itself. Why has this happened? Yusril sees this as inseparable from the development of oligarchic power. The political-economic power of the old elite has been able to survive in the Reform Era. According to Yusril, they have even been able to exploit the existing and ongoing democratisation process to regain power. Unfortunately, Yusril noted, the leadership born from procedural democracy does not automatically produce a bond of responsibility or make public accountability a source of political legitimacy. For the future good of the Indonesian nation, he argued, we can no longer allow democracy to proceed as it has over the past decade.