Meaning of democracy
Meaning of democracy
From Media Indonesia
Apparently we still have a lot to learn about democracy. The New Order regime interpreted democracy as holding total power (judiciary, executive and legislative, even military) in one hand. It also silenced anyone who had a different opinion, accusing him of undermining Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution and putting him in jail. Was it called Pancasila democracy?
Pancasila democracy was seemingly not an improvement on the Guided Democracy popularized by Indonesia's first president Sukarno. The late Buya Hamka had a different opinion on the subject and was imprisoned without due legal process.
The splintered Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Perjuangan considers democracy as the efforts to thwart the other PDI faction (formerly led by Soerjadi and now led by Budi Hardjono), by violence if need be. Then to terrorize anyone who doubts Megawati's potential as a prospective president, as experienced by a KNI journalist in Yogyakarta. Also, to thrash anybody who has a different opinion. Perhaps that is Perjuangan (struggle) Democracy.
The Voices of Concerned Women and Arifin Panigoro practiced democracy in the form of distributing packages of rice, bread, noodles, drinks, medicine to students who opposed the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly. They gave no attention at all to the people in favor of the Special Session. Democracy should actually provide equal space to pros and cons.
Certain circles (mostly NGOs) assess democracy as opposition to the government. To support the government is to be antidemocracy. Thus, if a student dies because he is against the government, he is named a hero of democracy and reform. On the other hand, if a student (also a government apparatus and a civilian) dies but he is not opposed to the government, his death is merely meaningless.
What about Nahdlatul Ulama's chairman Gus Dur's version of democracy? To him democracy is to establish the Democracy Forum after firmly rejecting the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) which he considers sectarian. Actually, the principles of democracy recognize both ICMI and Forum Demokrasi. Furthermore, to Gus Dur democracy means the ouster of Abu Hasan from the Nahdlatul Ulama central board although the latter only lost by a few votes at the Cipasung conference some years ago.
As a nation still learning about democracy, we lack not only wisdom, we also have the tendency to claim that "my version" of democracy is far more democratic than "his version".
MOH. ABDUL KARIM
Jakart