Products of democracy

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