Legitimacy stems from good governance, opennes

Legitimacy stems from good governance, opennes

By Meuthia Ganie Rochman

JAKARTA (JP): Good governance, which has become a new approach
in viewing development problems in developing countries since
1990, conceptually revises the relationship between the
institution of state and the people, although the role of state
is still crucial.

Countries and agencies that lend money to developing countries
view that uncontrolled governments have caused distortions in
production and distribution, where, for example, resources are
allocated inefficiently or only for the interest of exclusive
groups.

People's control is needed within evaluation and
implementation of public policies. There are two requirements to
make people's control possible -- guarantee by law that people
can exert control and capability of the people to do so. In
addition, access for information about government policies, human
rights and democratic political systems are prerequisites that
must also be guaranteed by law.

The other crucial aspect in the formation of good governance
in a country has yet to gain sufficient attention. This aspect is
the process of interaction between the government and the people,
a process that shapes the structure of governance. This aspect
allows better understanding on the political dynamics in
countries that have experienced the politics of a developmental
state like Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

Interaction here is meant as the formation process of norms
and evaluation toward the application of state instruments in
public management. The government has the authority to make
decisions in certain aspects. It can take the form of format or
informal. It is true that for modern societies, government
authority in formal forms is more dominant than informal ones.
However, authority is a process that involves people's
perceptions about what the government should or should not do.

Legitimation is obtained by a body if people acknowledge that
it has performed a good job. For a government, legitimation is
measured by the way it carries out authority. Because
legitimation is derived from perception about needs, law systems,
norms and value, the concept of legitimation assumes the
existence of common norms and values developed along with the
nation's life.

Representation is defined as the right to represent of a group
of people in a decision-making process that pertains to the
allocation of resources. In an extreme situation, demand can also
pertain to a change in the governance system. Representation has
wider elements than a position in a people's representative body.
Every society has forms of representation that pertain to the
demand to access to public resources. Representation is important
since it justifies the reason for the existence of most
organizations.

How long a government rules will determine its capacity to
influence the interactions among these three structures. Long-
serving governments have the chance to create systemic
integration and direct how it works. The influence and role of a
government under such a condition include its capability in
building social frameworks of social groups.

So, the government occupies a dominant position in the
interaction framework with the people -- in the allocation of
resources, formation of norms and values, as well as some kind of
relationship between strategic groups. In this condition, even
their legitimation of role and existence are determined by their
closeness to the government.

Since last year, Indonesians have experienced a deep economic
crisis and political changes. The change in leadership was
followed by changes in the political rules of the game and the
formation of new symbols and visions about social and political
order. However, new institutional structures have to be built. A
"blooming of expression" from many groups does not guarantee that
democratization is underway. The more complex problem is that
this nation is in the midst of economic wreckage, the impacts of
which can be a backlash for democratization.

The problems concerning the formation of good governance lie
in all areas -- market, state and society. Since the currency
crisis began, the market has drastically been contracting. The
market awaits a reliable action from the government. Whereas the
government is experiencing the contraction of legitimation,
authority and representation. The contraction of legitimation is
caused by the persistence of old elements within the government,
by an inability to punish/settle the "sins of the past", and also
by doubts to take future directions.

The contraction of representation occurs because many
political and economic aspirations from groups in society cannot
be absorbed by the government. The contraction of authority is
caused by internal fractions and the government's inability in
financing.

A healthy democratization process needs a strong state and
government. The government, for example, must be able to
accommodate different interests. It is important to bear in mind
that even with the best of intentions, fractions are always
potential in diverse interests. It is also obvious that after a
"good" law is created, the problem still remains on how to
enforce it.

Another problem is attributable to society itself. Political
change has caused the blooming of aspirations. Still, this nation
has a long way to go to reach a basis for democracy, namely
national consensus shared by "all groups". Democracy is a
bargaining process within this framework. In order to be accepted
by "all groups", the framework can only stipulate basic
principles, for example, human rights. These principles must be
not only acknowledged, but also implemented without
discrimination.

Reformists should make priorities on the agenda of political
changes within a dilemmatic political situation. On the one side,
there is sensible anxiety about present state apparatuses. There
is always a danger that some elements within the government will
try to regain dominance in the structures of communication. On
the other side, it is important to have a strong state that
serves to achieve national goals.

Therefore, the development of the structures of communication
to accommodate Indonesia's present condition must refer to two
requirements.

* The state authority should focus on basic policies --
economic recovery, reallocation of resources to support small and
medium-scale industries, control and rationalization of capital-
intensive industries, and prevention of open and systematic
violations of human rights. It is urgent that all economic
sectors managed by the state are made accessible to public
scrutiny in order to prevent the government from redominating
representation and legitimation.

* A more diverse representation should be developed, based on
common consensus on citizen rights, obligation and national
goals. This aspect can only be determined by society, and the
state has the obligation to enforce it indiscriminately. The
politics of stigmatization and manipulation against few groups,
either committed by the state or by other groups, must be
resolved.

These two conditions, namely the prevention of resource
centralization by the government and the establishment of
consensus framework by society, will determine the form of
legitimation within the relationship between the state and
society.

The writer is a teaching staff member at the Department of
Sociology, the University of Indonesia.