Indonesia at a critical moment

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta

It will be interesting to see how Indonesia's new president and his cabinet address the issues that were contentious during the campaign and that continue to plague the country now that the mandate is confirmed. The people of Indonesia are entitled to expect, indeed to demand, great things from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his new government; palpable progress in the areas of government corruption, environmental issues, education reform, law reform, tax reform and other big ticket items will have to made and seen to be made if democracy is to have a chance here in Indonesia.

There are those who, during this time of uncertainty, look fondly back on the days of the political strongmen, the days of autocratic power in the hands of charismatic leaders. Yes, they say, freedoms were curtailed. Certainly, individual liberty was scarce. But there was a sense of security; life was predictable and the uncertainty that surrounds us today wasn't a big part of the picture.

Democracy therefore, to become the new paradigm, must be accompanied by a noticeable improvement in the day-to-day lives of the people of the country. Indonesia is now at the point where, if those improvements do not occur and do not occur quickly and in a very palpable way, the people may very well reject the entire notion of democracy as a non-starter and relax back into the comfort of paternalistic dictatorship.

The people must see that with true democracy come improvements. The ringing tones of populist buzzwords like liberty, equality and opportunity must be more than noble concepts. The ideals are great and are definitely to be sought after, but they must have tangible benefits.

If we have a democratically elected government but the law is only there to protect the rich and well-connected, equality will be nothing more than hot air. If we have a president who was directly elected by the people but certain people are excluded from consideration for jobs because of their ethnic or social class, opportunity is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. If the elections were peaceful and a government is formed as the result of promises made, but government services are unobtainable without a bribe, liberty does not yet exist.

Democracy in itself is not an ideal. It is only a way of achieving the goals of liberty, quality, justice, opportunity etc. Democracy is far from perfect morally, ethically or practically, but it is the best hope we have for achieving the goals we all want. But having said that, we must also grant that it is the responsibility of all those who support democracy to make it work.

Actual, real, visible change must be made or the anti- democratic forces will prevail. If democracy only pays lip service to the ideals we espouse while behind the scenes it's business as usual and laws remain unjust, inequality reigns and the suffering of the many is contrasted by the lavish wealth of the empowered few, those who long for the days of security and certainty can be forgiven.

For what good is democracy to anyone if the situation remains the same except that there is an added level of uncertainty? For this great democratic experiment to be successful, our new government must make some serious inroads on the big issues. But this also means that the smaller issues must not be ignored in the face of the big picture.

While the upper levels of government are attacking the more evident and egregious abuses in the judiciary, military, and administrative aspects of the governance of this country, a great deal of effort must be made at the real nuts and bolts level as well. The government must not only look at the forest, it must see the trees, if the people are to be convinced that democracy is in fact the appropriate tool to fix what's amiss with their lives.

The elimination of much of the paperwork that is required for nearly every simple administrative detail of life in Indonesia would be a good place to start. It is not being unduly cynical to point to the obvious; much of the red tape is in place for no other reason than to provide civil servants with more and more opportunities to solicit graft. Needless delays are created by the paperwork and those delays can always be circumvented with the provision of a "tip" to the very person creating the obstacles.

If those ingrained and universal aspects of administration in Indonesia were reduced, let alone eliminated, the effects would be palpable in people's daily lives. The effects would be immediately noticeable and the population would start to believe that maybe democracy is the right way to go. The side effect of economic growth would be easy to spot as well, since the impediment of the graft system is a major factor in the retardation of Indonesia's development.

What the new government must see as its mandate is the requirement that the people's lives actually improve in small but noticeable ways as a result of honest, transparent and democratic governmental processes. Anything less and this fragile experiment can collapse like a house of cards. The situation is that critical.

The writer, social and political commentator, can be reached at ttpguntensperger@hotmail.com