Toward more open society

Toward more open society

The prominent poet, Rendra, recently dismissed a widely held
belief that democracy has no traditional roots in our society as
an irrelevant question.

Such a belief implies that democracy does not have fertile
ground to grow in this country and gives rise to an attitude
which endorses shrugging off responsibility for undemocratic
behavior by branding the cries for democracy as western
influenced or not in line with Indonesia's values.

During a cultural meeting last month in the Central Java town
of Mendut, talk at times touched on the question that perhaps
this nation has difficulties absorbing new values, including
democracy due to its tendency to glorify the past.

Rendra attributed these difficulties to our obsession with
achieving high social status instead of cultural advancement. For
instance, members of political parties are more likely to busy
themselves with matters that could put them in high level
bureaucratic positions rather than improving the quality of life
of the people.

As early as 1960, Mohammad Hatta, our founding father, wrote
in his book Demokrasi Kita (Our Democracy), that democracy does
have its roots in the nation.

However, democracy which has become an international
catchword, has found its "mechanical" implementation in a number
of countries, for instance, in Latin America. This is lamentable,
as in this form of practice, democracy becomes a tyranny of the
majority over the minority.

Our situation is not as bad as that in those countries. The
very existence of public debate on a number of issues, such as
the Liquisa incident, the recalling of members of the
legislature, and the case of the controversial psychic, Permadi,
is a proof of that.

Nevertheless, fear over whether or not our democracy can also
become "mechanical" should drive us all to be really sincere in
our efforts to create an open society. Rendra likens it to a
struggle in the field of culture. The goals of which are to be
more ready to agree to disagree and to be more open to criticism,
changes and progress.

-- Kompas, Jakarta