Western concepts and political decision

Western concepts and political decision

You printed excellent reports on the activities of the fourth
Conference of the European Association for Southeast Asian
Studies (EUROSEAS) held in Paris, from Sept. 1 to Sept. 4 mainly
in Sorbonne in the Sept. 9, 10 and 14 editions of The Jakarta
Post, but the reports missed the Panel 18 that took place in
French Parliament. I would like to highlight the conclusion of
Panel 18 that is very essential for explaining democracy in
Indonesia.

Panel 18 was the only EUROSEAS 2004 panel that was accompanied
by proceedings. Eight selected papers, including my paper Le
resorts de la decision politique Indonesie, were included in a
special issue of Peninsula No. 48/2004. The theme of the Panel
18, Traditional Political Structure under the Influence of
Democracy in Southeast Asia, was introduced by French scholar
William Gueraiche. My article proposes a new methodology in
predicting political decisions.

Panel 18 was trying to make clear what democracy in Southeast
Asia looks like. What is the relevance of Western concepts in
understanding Southeast Asian democracy? What does democracy mean
in Indonesia, or what does republic signify in the Philippines?

There were two papers on Indonesian matters. One was mine and
the other was by a German scholar on the rise of Partai Keadilan
Sejahtera (PKS).

My article explained how it could be very dangerous to use
certain Western concepts to understand Southeast Asian politics
-- the result could be erroneous. It also provides an alternative
framework to improve the existing concept. We need to understand
more about our plural ethnicities, our rural-based society that
reflects agrarian values, which are basically conservative, our
multireligious, social life that is growing alongside the growth
of economic activities, our education systems that shape values
and determine the elite and middle class.

Studying democracy and designing democratic society are two
sides of the same coin. Ideally, interactive communication
between two sides should be developed intensively to understand
each other.

DIAH ASITADANI
Department of Political Science
University of Geneva

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