Democracy takes root in world's largest Muslim country

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In a period of less than eight months, Indonesia held this year an unprecedented three direct elections -- proving the skeptics wrong in their peaceful process and conclusion -- and heralding a new era in its political evolution.

First was the nationwide legislative election on April 5, which 24 political parties contested for a combined total of over 17,000 seats at the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council and local legislative councils.

Three months later on July 5, voters cast their ballots once again to choose their leader from among five candidates in the first direct presidential election -- complete with campaigns of a distinctly Indonesian flair, featuring dangdut artists and colorful party T-shirts, and another first, televised debates, or "dialogs".

With no candidate garnering a clear majority, the stage was set for an election runoff on Sept. 20 between then incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri and her key rival, former security chief Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Right up to the moment the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced the country's sixth president and vice president, Susilo and Jusuf Kalla, not a single case of violence was reported within the eight months of the official election period.

However, in the lead-up to the election year, supporters of the Golkar Party and Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) clashed following a district Golkar meeting in northern Bali, killing x and injuring dozens.

Nevertheless, the peaceful and democratic elections was a noteworthy feat that was lauded internationally, not the least because the country and its people had only just rid themselves of a dictatorial regime through the reformasi movement less than six years earlier.

Under Soeharto's iron-fisted rule, the "electorate" was herded once every five years to the polling booths under the guise of a general election to endorse the autocrat's continued reign.

Following the demise of the dictatorship, all hell broke loose, most visibly as communal and religious conflicts in several regions. In Maluku and Poso, Central Sulawesi, Muslims and Christians clashed bloodily, while in West and Central Kalimantan, native Dayak and migrant Madurese lynched one another.

The transitions during and after the first democratic presidential? legislative? election in 1999 were also painful.

Rioting erupted following Megawati's defeat in her bid for the presidential seat, which was put to the vote in the People's Consultative Assembly, and PDI-P supporters took the streets and went on a rampage.

A similar incident occurred when former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was impeached by the Assembly the same year, with his supporters cutting down trees and ransacking the offices of a political party thought to be responsible for their patron's ouster.

All the turmoil raised concerns that in Indonesia, where Islam is the predominant faith, that the religion's values were simply incompatible with democracy. Firebrand Muslim groups often reject democracy outright, as they view it as a Western concept.

At the outset, a peaceful election year seemed improbable amid heightened tension and sporadic violence in several regions, as well as the undercurrent of possible terror since the Bali bombings of 2001.

However, voters were enthusiastic and went to the polls in an orderly, sometimes festive, manner, voting for their preferred candidates independent of any directives or advice from political machinery.

Among the indicators of this was the voter turnout: 82 percent for the legislative election; 78 percent for the first-round presidential election; and 76 percent for the runoff.

The result of the election also showed that voter preferences were largely moderate, as the bulk of them voted for nationalism- oriented parties and the Justice Prosperous Party (PKS) -- considered the standard bearer of Islamic values -- because of their anticorruption stance.

Analysts have said credit should go to Megawati for drawing up and conducting a peaceful and fair elections. However, these analysts have not pointed out Megawati's direct contribution to the successful election, apart from being the incumbent at the time.

In fact, Megawati was busy, focusing on her campaign and traveling extensively throughout the country to woo voters, sometimes during official visits.

As for the parties, nothing much could be expected from them in terms of keeping the peace among the electorate, as they had a tendency to exploit voters' differences of opinion to bolster their own chances.

The media, on the other hand, which should have played an indispensable role in educating voters, instead showed a degree of partiality. A report from the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM), for example, revealed that a number of prominent media were biased in their reporting on presidential candidates.

Thus, voters were left to their own devices to make an independent and informed choice, and in the end, surprised the elite with their political maturity.

Megawati lost her reelection bid with under 40 percent of votes against more than 60 percent for Susilo, as voters judged that her administration had delivered nothing significant in its three years in power as a transitional government from the reform era toward democratization.

In short, voters had punished her for this gross shortcoming.

"This election demonstrates a very strong popular rejection of selfish political elites within the political parties," political observer of the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review Michael Vatikiotis said.

Vatikiotis, who traveled extensively through Java's rural regions ahead of the runoff, said he found voters at the grassroots level tolerant and respectful of each other's choices.

A member of the General Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu), perhaps summed up the election year best: The people proved their maturity, showing the country and the world that the nation was ready for democracy.

The peaceful elections has thus shown that at least in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, Islam and democracy are a natural fit and can coexist in harmony.