Let New Order politicians run, scholar says

A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Any move to ban people belonging to the New Order regime from the elections violates the principle of democracy itself, political observer Arief Budiman says.

"We should implement democracy in its entirety. We cannot bar people who are accustomed to the authoritarian system from the democratic process of elections," Arief told a discussion titled "Opportunities and Threats to Democratization in 2004" held by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP).

Arief was a staunch critic of former president Soeharto's New Order government. He now teaches at Melbourne University, Australia.

He said the participation of a political party that openly claimed to represent the New Order should serve as a test whether democracy would prevail in the country.

Arief was referring to Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB), founded by former Army chief Gen. (ret) R. Hartono. The party, one of 24 general election contenders, has nominated Soeharto's daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana as its presidential candidate.

"I predict crooked politicians will dominate this year's elections. So, we should work hard for the 2009 general election," he said.

Therefore he suggested that intellectuals and pro-democracy activists join political parties and the elections.

Despite pessimism over the result of the polls, Arief urged people to maintain democracy and freedom of the press.

He also asked people to fight the court verdict in a libel case involving Koran Tempo daily and businessman Tomy Winata, saying it was a threat to press freedom and democracy. The South Jakarta District Court ordered the daily to pay US$1 million in damages to the plaintiff Tomy.

"It not about Koran Tempo. It's about press freedom and democracy," Arief said.

Meanwhile, Indonesianist from Deakin University Greg Barton expressed pessimism over the current democratic transition.

"I see the military and Islamic hard-liners could still pose a threat to the democratic transition. We do not want Indonesia to suffer more than the Philippines or Pakistan in the years following transition," said Barton, who is known for his close relations with former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

He said the current government of President Megawati Soekarnoputri was unlikely to be able to make the transition to full democracy.

Besides the powerless government, he said the current political structure could not create democracy, which required, among other things, the implementation of checks and balances.

Previously, a study conducted by the Democracy and Human Rights Studies Institute concluded that the corrupt political elite had taken advantage of the democratic transition to continue corrupt practices.