Smita on the fledgling democracy

Smita on the fledgling democracy

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Smita Notosusanto may be petite physically, but it seems she has
not lost the energy to articulate the need for reform of the
country's electoral system.

Maybe that is a reason why she has been branded a crusader for
reform of the electoral system in Indonesia.

"I feel tired sometimes, but if I slow down I'm worried that
the door to democracy that has opened in this country will be
closed. If you look carefully, you can see the indications," she
told The Jakarta Post during an interview recently.

Most Indonesians assume that the country has moved on from
authoritarianism following the downfall of the New Order
government in 1998.

The fact that the country had managed to hold direct
legislative and presidential elections -- the latter being the
first in Indonesia's history -- strengthened the premise.

But Smita warned Indonesians not to be blinded by this
assumption.

Some 80 percent of countries that are in transition from
authoritarianism to democracy failed to adopt genuine democracy
and instead reverted to authoritarianism, she argued.

"Look at Thailand. I very much worry that Indonesia will take
a step back into authoritarianism," said the former lecturer, who
was born in London in 1961.

One indication is the government and House of Representatives'
decision -- enshrined in Law No. 32/2004 on regional
administrations -- to mandate the Department of Home Affairs to
handle direct regional elections, Smita said.

"No democratic countries ever allow their governments to hold
elections. They strongly ban government and political party
involvement in elections. Authoritarianism may return through
undemocratic regional elections," said Smita, who has the full
support of her husband and teenage son.

Unfortunately, Smita and a number of other parties' attempts
to challenge the law in the Constitutional Court met with
disappointment as it refused to annul articles involving these
issues.

"Only three judges understood our arguments. The others do not
understand that there must be a consistent standard for
elections, be they legislative, presidential or regional. A
democratic election must be conducted by an independent
institution," she said.

The failure, however, did not deter Smita from going ahead
with her mission for total reform of the country's election
system.

"We'll try to ask the House to amend the law. Actually, we
sought one law on elections, so there would not be separate
legislation for different types of election.

"It's important for consistency, which plays a major part in
the quality of elections," she said.

Therefore, Smita decided to resign as director of the Center
for Electoral Reform (Cetro) and instead chose to be a senior
researcher for the institution.

She has started to carry out comprehensive research into the
impact of the law on direct regional elections in several
conflict-prone areas such as East Java and Central Java.

"I have not focused on Poso, Aceh or Papua for my research
because the conflict there was generated by external causes. I
want to seek proof that bad legislation for regional elections
will play a major part in election-related conflicts," Smita
said.

The proof was necessary to convince legislators to amend the
election-related law, she said. Smita is confident that such
evidence would be able to convince legislators.

"We, activists, must be the active partners of legislators.
They need correct information on which to produce legislation. I
often follow them from one hotel to another when they are
drafting a law. They must know that we are watching them," said
Smita, who enjoys debating with legislators.

Born of a well-off family -- her father is former education
minister Nugroho Notosusanto -- Smita's involvement with the
movement for reform of the electoral system started with her
activities as a women's activist.

"I long for an election system that is easy for female
voters," said Smita, who was inspired to become a women's
activist following her work for a female U.S. Congress member in
1991.

To date, Smita, who calls herself a feminist, is still
involved with the drafting of a series of laws to protect women.

Despite her activities in election system reform and women's
issues, Smita is a founder of acehkita.com, an online website
focusing on news about Aceh. Acehkita is now available in
magazine format.

"There is no democracy in Aceh. You cannot get information as
freely as here in Jakarta. I am not confident for the results of
the elections there," she said, adding that her interest in Aceh
arose following the government's decision to impose martial law
in the province, followed by the state of civil emergency.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for
independence for over 30 years, has branded Acehkita as being
pro-TNI, while the TNI has accused it of siding with GAM.

"We don't care. It's an inevitable consequence if you want to
uphold democracy," said Smita, who considered it another
indication that could return Indonesia to authoritarianism.

She also saw the recent TNI decision to set up regional
commands (Kodam) in a number of provinces, including Papua, as an
indication that the door to democracy has started to close.

"We must do our best to hold the door ajar. I'll fight any
attempt that could damage the establishment of genuine democracy
here," she said.