Indonesia Praised as a “Democratic Tiger”
By Daniel Hollingsworth
August 1, 2007 | Printer Friendly

An op-ed in the August 1 Washington Post notes that just ten years after the paralysis of the Asian financial crisis, Indonesia has emerged as “a solid democratic regime [that] has quelled regional separatism and Islamic militancy.”  James Castle, founder of the Jakarta-based consultancy CastleAsia, and Craig Charney, president of the New York polling firm Charney Research, recently conducted an extensive survey of Indonesian attitudes toward issues including democracy, foreign investment, and the United States, finding that “Indonesia has come far since 1997, when students marched in the streets behind a coffin, protesting the ‘death of democracy.’”

They observe that Indonesia has defied many expectations in the past decade.  After the fall of President Suharto’s regime, Indonesia seemed poised on the brink of collapse.  Instead, it has since held two elections that have been both widely regarded as free and fair, and despite the presence of regional threats to Indonesia’s stability, the democratic process has been an effective arbiter of “potentially explosive disputes – political, regional, and religious – that its autocratic neighbors ignore or suppress.”  

The op-ed continues, “The successful shift to democracy has confounded skeptics who in 1997 feared this sprawling, diverse country of 235 million would disintegrate without a strongman holding it together.  Its effective security response to bombings by Islamic extremists and its marginalization of pro-terror radicals has also surprised those who thought the world’s largest Muslim nation might become a ‘failed state’ and a hotbed of terrorist activity.  Instead, Indonesia has achieved something unique in the region and the developing Muslim world: stability and growth on democratic foundations.”

Generally, the authors report, Indonesian attitudes toward democracy are encouraging.  “Almost all important segments of society – even the military – accept the legitimacy of the political system.”  Indonesia’s Islamic fundamentalist party has not gained traction and only receives support from 7 percent of the population, while 80 percent have a favorable view of Nahdlatul Ulama, a moderate Muslim group and the world’s largest Muslim organization.  They say that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is widely popular and has been successful “in attacking corruption, raising school enrollment and ending separatist conflict in Aceh.”  Castle and Charney note that there are still issues to be resolved in Indonesia’s democratic development; their survey found that Indonesians still cite high unemployment and corruption among their greatest concerns.  However, Castle and Charney call these “ordinary government problems – jobs and good governance,” contrasting them with the worries over riots, violence and a leadership vacuum following the fall of Suharto. 

Their study also shows that there are positive signs for the relationship between Indonesia and the United States; despite a continued opposition to American foreign policy in the Middle East, a majority of Indonesians now supports the U.S.-led fight against global terrorism.  Indonesians are also open to foreign investment, and investment from major U.S. companies like Coca Cola and Microsoft was viewed favorably by respondents in the survey.  The survey finds widely-held reservations about the world economy, and these concerns have hindered economic reform.  Still, Castle and Charney argue that “if [Indonesia] can speed up economic progress, broad-based democracy, as in India, may become a better long-term bet for stability and growth than the rigid systems prospering in China, in Vietnam and in other Muslim countries.”

Reference:

Washington Post: A Democratic Indonesian Tiger?