Democracy in Indonesia the pride of Muslims

The Korea Herald, Asia News Network, Seoul

Just as Korea has proved, through its political progress over the last few decades, that there is no inherent conflict between Asian Confucianism and democracy, Indonesians are about to beat another myth that democracy cannot prosper in the Muslim world. As vote counting continues across the archipelago of more than 13,000 islands after Monday's balloting, the 210 million Indonesians must feel proud in that they have finally stepped into democratic rule by holding their first direct presidential election in history without serious troubles.

It was a run-off vote between the incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of the republic's founding father Sukarno, and her challenger, retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Susilo, who had won the first round of elections in July but failed to garner an overall majority, is again leading with a big margin. A final tally will be made after two weeks.

The Indonesian elections must also have inspired the Bush administration and the U.S. military authorities in Iraq, as well as officials of the interim Iraqi government who are now preparing for general elections in the country next January. A group of Iraqis who came to Jakarta to monitor the elections say they were convinced the "democratic steps taking place in Indonesia" can also be implemented in their own country.

No major election-related violence was reported throughout the country on voting day and in the run-up to the second round ballot, except for a suicide bombing at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta which killed nine people. An al-Qaeda-linked terrorist network was blamed for the incident and two other deadly bombing attacks in the past two years.

Susilo, who resigned as the senior minister for security in March to run for the presidential election, was credited for tough measures to crack down on terrorist agents. His military background gave him an advantage as many Indonesians are looking for a strong leader who can push political and economic reforms and protect them from terror threats. He also campaigned with a pledge to bring the powerful armed forces under civilian control.

Megawati, who first served as vice president under President Abdurrahman Wahid and was chosen as president in parliament in 2001 after the aged cleric was impeached for incompetence, has done much to stabilize the economy and government of the world's largest Muslim nation.

But her popularity has declined among the lower class, the main supporters of her Democratic Party of Struggle, as she is seen to have sided with the military, political and business elites, especially since she teamed up with the largest political party, Golkar, in a coalition.

The election was thus a contest of personality and image rather than of policies. Still, it was considered as the final stage in a peaceful transition to democracy after years of political fluidity that began with the collapse of Soeharto's dictatorship in 1998. Indonesia's move into the community of democracies will dramatically change the political map of the globe, which has continuously broadened the domain of liberal democracy since the 1980s in Asia, Latin America and East Europe.

As the world is poised to fight the worst form of terrorism in human history originating unfortunately from authoritarian Muslim society, it is commonly recognized that free democratic rule is the best deterrent against the evil forces, even without the logic of the supporters of the current U.S. campaign in Iraq. In this trying time, Indonesians are inspiring great hope in all peace-loving people of the world.