RI's elitist democracy fails the people

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More than four years since the student-led people power movement ended three decades of tyranny, one's first impression of Indonesia today is that democracy is very much alive. The political arena is a battle for dozens of political parties, elected politicians are far more vocal in raising issues, and the free media is doing its job in exposing scandals after scandals.

But if democracy is meant to be "government for the people by the people", that has rarely been the case for Indonesia. It is more appropriate to describe Indonesia's democracy today as government for the elite by the elite. Democracy, or reformasi which ushered in the new era of political openness in Indonesia, has practically passed the people by all these last four years.

The wong cilik (little people) whom many today's politicians claim to represent, and the same ones who sent these politicians to their cozy offices in the 1999 elections, are missing out on the fruits of their own labor and struggle.

For many of them, there has been nothing but pain and misery, and because of the feeling of being let down, apathy has also started to creep in.

"Aren't they supposed to be working for us?" a Jakarta taxi driver groans when commenting on the members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) who are gathering for their annual meeting this week to determine the fate of the country.

Constitutional amendment, being the main agenda of the MPR meeting, is hardly in the radar's screen of this taxi driver. Like many in his condition, he just wants to send his children to school, but he can't.

"School is very expensive now. What are the politicians doing for people like me?

"I never cried in my life before, but this time I can't stop it. I'm working like hell night and day, but I still don't have enough to pay for the school fees."

His discontent with today's elected politicians inevitably led him to reminisce the "good old days" of the Soeharto regime, when he could afford many of the basic amenities in life, such as schooling for his children, even on a small income.

"Reformasi (reform) is mere empty words," the driver says, noting that, thanks to the soaring inflation in 1998-99, just about everything else has become expensive, while his real income has declined or at best remained stagnant.

Many like him have also become apathetic to the seemingly endless political news, particularly their bickering, which the free Indonesia media has faithfully reported every day.

Witness the way that the nation's TV stations have move many of the political talk-show programs, which once dominated their programming, out of the peak hours or shelved them altogether. Their slots have now been taken by programs like ketoprak humor (a humorous traditional Javanese play) and Srimulat.

If reformasi was supposed to have launched Indonesia on the learning curve of democracy, it is the nation's political elite, rather than people, who still have a lot to catch up.

While members of the elite are busy playing politics and learning the ropes of democracy, they are forgeting the one very basic principle about democracy: the people.

Valina Singka, a lecturer at the Indonesian University and a member of the General Election Commission (KPU), says politics is actually only a tool to help improve people's welfare.

However, politics is also identical with power.

"This power must be used for the sake of the people and their prosperity," she says.

Many elected politicians today have failed to see the connection between the power they are entrusted with, and their duty towards the people who put them where they are.

"They must know that they have failed to fulfill the aspirations of their constituents," she says.

Valina still banks her hope on the MPR completing the current process of amending the constitution that would allow Indonesia to vote its leaders and government in a more democratic way and at the same time make fully accountable to the people.

She recognizes the danger of the growing apathy to Indonesia's nascent democracy, including the possibility that many people would simply refuse to vote in 2004.

"There's the risk. But I think people must exercise their civic rights. They could start monitoring carefully which parties are more serious in fighting for their interests."

Their bitter feeling towards today's elected politicians should tell them not to vote for the same representatives or party, in the next election, she says.

This, she adds, should form part of the people's political education process.

Indira Damayanti Bambang Sugondo of the Indonesian Democratic of People Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) admits that many parties have broken their promises made during their 1999 election campaigns.

Indira, who recently relinquished her seat at the House of Representatives because of disagreements with her party leaders, says voters should assess the characters of the candidates in the 2004 elections.

"Being wealthy is no guarantee that candidates will stay clean once they get elected," she says.

She too finds a lot of despondency among many people who feel that the politicians they elected in 1999 to represent them have not performed up to expectation.

As a result, many more people have simply become turned off by political news.

"At this rate, more and more people will forfeit their right to vote in the 2004 general election," she says. "And that would be a setback for Indonesia."