Islam and Democracy
Many years ago an Middle Eastern ambassador, who had been in Indonesia only three days, claimed to understand our political system.
The guiding principles, he said, were musyawarah and muwafaqah; deliberation leading to consensus, taught by the Koran.
He was not being completely honest. The truth was that those noble Islamic teachings were being abused by dictator-presidents Soeharto and Sukarno for their own political ends.
And after all, musyawarah is not a full democratic system -- it is only one facet of democracy. The first caliphs after Prophet Muhammad were elected under the system of Musyawarah, but those who came after them appointed their own sons as successors. This is the traditions of many Muslim countries today.
But is Islam compatible with democracy at all? This question has been asked for nearly 60 years, ever since the new Muslim countries created in the wake of World War II began seeking sound political systems.
On Monday an international Conference on the "Challenge of Democracy in the Muslim World" sponsored by the Jakarta Islamic Institute (IAIN) and Mershon Center (Ohio State University), USA, was opened here. The conference was closed yesterday.
After the World War II some newborn countries -- like Indonesia and India -- sought to introduce democracy.
In India, political freedom still thrives -- but Indonesians were robbed of the same opportunity.
President Sukarno stole the democratic system from his people in 1959, when he introduced his own political framework, so- called "Guided Democracy".
Soeharto returned democracy to the people in 1968, but snatched it back again in 1971 with his dirty "generals election".
Our neighbor Malaysia, which gained independence in 1957 and proclaimed Islam the state religion, claims to be a democracy.
But political observers around the world say Malaysia's system is less than half-democratic, largely because its Internal Security Act (ISA) allows authorities to jail political activists without trial.
Even socialist countries have claimed to be democracies, with titles like "People's Democratic Republic" and so on.
In the 1970s many people around the world were surprised to realize that no Muslim lived under democratic rulers.
Indonesia, since the elections of 1999, has moved toward democracy -- but still the people want improvements.
And despite the fact that the vast majority of Indonesia's population is Muslim, this is not an Islamic republic.
Indonesia claims to adhere to the five sacred principles (Pancasila), but the state has never truly explained how our system embraces the real meaning of the first tenet; Belief in One God.
Many other Muslim countries, which use religion as their basis, also still look like secular societies.
All nations, Muslim or not, can move toward freedom by giving citizens the right to choose their own political system.
And Indonesia, if it is to be a real democracy, has many years of work ahead.