Scholar concerned over democracy

Scholar concerned over democracy

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's commitment to democracy will
remain weak as long as the government puts economic growth above
political development, a scholar said yesterday.

Riswanda Imawan of Gadjah Mada University said that the
greatest concern was the enormous potential for conflict within
the society which, he said, was highly heterogeneous in terms of
ethnicity, culture and religion.

Political, and thus democratic, development brings with it
consequences that could make the potential conflict burst into
the open, said the lecturer in political science.

"The situation has prompted the government to implant
'Politics No, Development Yes' in the people's mind," he said in
an interview with The Jakarta Post.

The heterogeneous nature of Indonesian society explains why
the development of the economy and politics did not go hand-in-
hand as they did in countries like Taiwan or South Korea, where
the community was basically homogeneous, he said.

He added that both South Korea's and Taiwan's success in
political and economic development was largely due to the role of
the Americans, who wanted to use those countries to counter-
balance communist North Korea and mainland China.

"In Indonesia, we should not worry about foreign ideologies
but the potential conflict within our society," Riswanda said.

He added that Indonesia was sociologically so heterogeneous
that it needed 40 years before all organizations could accept (the
state ideology) Pancasila as their common principle.

In 1985, following long and often tense debates, Indonesia
passed a law that required all socio-political organizations to
have Pancasila as their sole principle.

Riswanda said that the difficulties encountered in developing
the political system in Indonesia had caused the bureaucracy to
adopt the traditional views of the dominant Javanese ethnic
group.

He said that in the concept of democracy, for example, the
state had adopted one which adored deliberation for consensus, as
traditionally practiced in Javanese villages.

He said Indonesia had "carelessly" adopted village-style
democracy at the national level, resulting in numerous
weaknesses. (har/pan)