Will economics brings about democracy?
Will economics brings about democracy?
By Makmur Keliat
The following article is the first of two articles on the
relations between market economy and democratization.
SURABAYA (JP): The hypothesis that there is a correlation
between the market economy and liberal democracy is by no means
new. It is argued that a stable democracy requires certain
preconditions in education, urbanization, economics, and the
press.
Conventional wisdom has is that the spirit of democracy will
flourish in countries where these indices are high.
Although some doubt the validity of this idea for developing
countries, there is a new enthusiasm among social scientists to
prove such a correlation.
Recent studies have examined evolving democratic systems in
developing countries. While many democratic governments in
developing countries fell to authoritarian ones in the past, the
tectonics of history are pushing in a different direction now.
Latin America was the first region to emerge from
authoritarianism in the early 1980s, followed by some East Asian
countries in the mid and late 1980s: the Philippines, South Korea
and Taiwan.
The collapse of the Soviet Union further boosted the idea that
liberal democracy and the market economy represent the best way
of life for humanity. Moreover, rapid economic globalization has
allowed global capital flows to promote ever more sweeping market
liberalization worldwide. The dramatic advances in information
technology are creating a virtual society, kindling a slow
brushfire of democracy.
Indonesia is an interesting case. With average annual growth
of six percent under the New Order regime, Indonesia has achieved
remarkable economic progress compared to other developing
countries in Latin American or Africa.
As a result of this success, there has been an explosion of
university graduates. Economic development has brought more and
more villagers into the booming cities, and a ballooning middle
class has emerged.
Though export revenues from oil are still significant, they
account for less than half of the balance of trade. The
erratically fluctuating price of oil prompted the Indonesian
government to introduce market-oriented economic reforms. Since
1973 various packages of economic deregulation were launched to
diversify exports and shift from an import substitution strategy
to an export oriented one. In short, the economy has gradually
become more integrated into the global economic structure.
Politically, Indonesia is in a complicated situation. The
country is still being governed by an authoritarian regime, and
various sectors of society have become more vocal in the past few
years.
Strikes are cropping up more frequently in big cities like
Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and Medan, suggesting that the co-
opting strategy the government has adopted seems no longer to be
working. The aspirations of workers are not being met.
The establishment of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union
(SBSI) in 1992 underlines this point. It amounted to a rejection
of the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), the only union
allowed, a body close to the government.
It is also worth mentioning that there is an increasing number
of mass organizations with political aspirations. The acronyms
they adopt often imply this. The Indonesian National Unity Party
for instance uses the acronym PNI (formerly the acronym of the
Indonesian Nationalist Party which was merged into the Indonesian
Democratic Party). Meanwhile Majelis Syarikat Ummat Muslimin
Indonesia uses the acronym Masyumi (formerly of the Majelis Syuro
Indonesia, a leading political party of the 1950's which
disbanded in 1960).
Moslem intellectuals established their own organization in
1990, the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI).
Meanwhile the YKPK (National Foundation Brotherhood) and PCPP
(Association of Intellectuals for Pancasila Development)
established in 1995 could be considered an intellectual-political
organization simply because many noted Indonesian politicians and
retired generals are members.
Various economic issues such as capital concentration and
conglomeration, economic inequity, and poverty in rural areas are
not taboo anymore. Demands for the breaking up of dubious
monopolies are being openly articulated.
It is becoming increasingly common to see protests and
counter-protests in front of the House of Representatives. The
government itself has announced that the army's quota in the
House will be reduced. However, it remains questionable whether
all this means that Indonesia is heading toward democracy.