Brief Notes from Coordinating Minister Yusril's Dissertation Defence

The Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Correctional Affairs, Prof. Yusril Ihza Mahendra, officially attained a doctoral degree in the Philosophy Study Programme, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia (UI), yesterday. This marks his second doctoral degree, following his completion of doctoral studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia in 1993.

At UI, Minister Yusril successfully defended his dissertation titled “Reinterpreting Mohammad Natsir’s Thoughts on the Relation between Islam and the State: A Philosophical Study with a Phenomenological-Existential Hermeneutic Approach.”

Yusril posits that the core idea of the Father of the Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Natsir, regarding theistic democracy, is highly worthy of attention and development, particularly when observing the implementation of the Reformasi demands.

Rather than being implemented more effectively, these demands appear to be increasingly fading.

In his dissertation, Yusril argues that the state appears to be increasingly falling into non-democratic practices that endanger democracy itself.

Why is this happening? Yusril observes that this cannot be separated from the growth of oligarchic power. The political-economic strength of the old elites has managed to persist into the Reformasi Era.

He further suggests that these elites can even exploit the ongoing process of democratisation to regain power.

Regrettably, Yusril notes that leadership born from procedural democracy does not automatically produce a sense of responsibility or establish public accountability as political legitimacy.

Therefore, for the future well-being of the Indonesian nation, we can no longer allow democracy to function as it has during the past decade.