Products of democracy

Indonesia is at present in a climate of the most liberal kind of democracy for which it is not quite ready. The economy has not recovered. A large part of the population is experiencing a reduction in social status, having been downgraded from the middle class to a class below it. Because of this people's concerns are not with politics so much as how to make ends meet.

We are currently gambling with democracy. This democracy was established because of pressures from segments of the elite and the general public -- not because the preconditions for it were already present. As a result, the public is divided between those who are relishing in its freedoms and those who couldn't care less about politics and think only about finding ways to survive.

The kind of liberal democracy that we have chosen cannot now be renounced. The problem is whether we can properly see the current debate about the right of interpellation, desacralization of the executive and the existence of endless demonstrations as logical products of democracy.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta