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.