Opposition needed in democracy

In accordance with its democratic system, Indonesia is now heading for the presidential election runoff on Sept. 20. The system that has been adopted in many developed countries respects the existence of an opposition party, to check and balance the government.

The notion that this system is against our state structure because it is from the west is a strange one, which sounds even more absurd coming from noted political leaders.

Yet, their reasons, which are based on one of the five principles of the state ideology Pancasila, are understandable. The principle states that democracy should be led or guided by the inner wisdom of deliberation among representatives. However, the previous government misused the essence of this fourth principle and rejected the existence of an opposition party.

In this reformasi (reform) era, most of our political leaders have the same perception of the meaning of opposition. They would benefit from cooperating with the government, rather than functioning as the opposition.

I hope the next government can fully understand the meaning of democracy. As in the first round of the presidential election campaign, one of our candidates advocated the existence of the opposition in order that the government can be controlled.

SUNGKOWO SOKAWERA Bandung