Democracy is fine for those whose basic human needs (food, shelter, clothing, access to electricity, clean water, education) have been met. But for a large number of Indonesian (39 million living on less than 2 dollars per day; 10 million openly unemployed; 15 million families having to receive direct cash transfers) democracy has little personal meaning. The biggest challenge for President Yudhoyono is to attack mass poverty, overcome inequities in development and combat corruption. Radical groups, be they be religious or secular based, pose a threat to Indonesia’s democracy.
But hope remains that within the next 3 years the threat of radical and violent extremism can be mitigated and that as democracy is underpinned by broad based social-economic development, Indonesia’s democracy can be salvaged and made sustainable. The following new analysis from a recent Reuters report sheds light on the socal-economic dimensions of Indonesia’s democracy.
Poverty May Disrupt Indonesia’s Young Democracy. By Gde Anugrah Arka – Analysis.
Failure to cope with poverty and unemployment could strengthen radical movements in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, threatening its young democracy and path toward economic liberalism, analysts say. Indonesia’s poverty rate is among Asia’s worst, and looks set to remain grim for the foreseeable future on high unemployment and lack of strong political ability to tackle the issues.
Adding to the problem, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy continues to shift to less labour-intensive sectors. The chronic poverty raises concerns about continued success for Indonesia’s seven-year effort at democracy, the first since a failed attempt in the 1950s. Many analysts say so far that effort has been impressive. “Indonesia is now, arguably, the most democratic nation in Southeast Asia,” said Ken Conboy, a security consultant in Jakarta who closely monitors radical groups.
Thailand has just undergone a military coup, Vietnam and Laos are one-party states, Myanmar is run by a junta, and most other countries in the region have policies that rights groups say leave their democracies flawed. However, democracy alone may not be enough to keep Indonesians content. “Economic problems definitely play into the hands of religious and political extremists. Extremists had a far more difficult time making inroads in Indonesia when the economy was booming.”
Poverty by itself does not necessarily endanger democracy. But if it combines with radical ideologies that reject the current secular political system in the world’s most populous Muslim country, Indonesia’s democratic transition may be disrupted, analysts say. “People get more and more desperate, and ideas and solutions they used to reject begin to sound more acceptable. This is already happening in Indonesia and a point will be reached when it cannot be reversed,” said political and economic professor Jeffrey Winters of Northwestern University in the United States, who has followed Indonesia for many years.
That could be a matter of concern not just for those who see democracy as most likely to protect human rights, but for countries worried about Indonesia serving as a base for spreading militancy in the region, and its strategic position along the Malacca Strait waterway, one of the world’s busiest. Indonesia’s latest poverty data, ending in March 2006 , showed that as of that month there was an increase of 11 percent since February 2005 due in part to fuel subsidy cuts in the budget that pushed up consumer prices. The number of Indonesians below Indonesia’s poverty line of about 80 U.S. cents-per-day hit around 39 million in March, almost one fifth of the population.
That could provide grist for the emergence of a strong political left as has recently happened in Latin America, and for militant religious movements. “As more and more people get unemployed and fall into poverty, demand for changes including socialism such as in Latin America are likely to grow,”said economist Helmi Arman of brokerage Bahana Sekuritas.
In the religious area Indonesia has already seen a series of deadly bombings in recent years, some carried out by Islamic militants mostly raised in poor villages. “How do radicals attempt to exploit the situation? In some cases, they offer a utopian, non-secular vision of prosperity and piety. For the under-educated, such promises hold appeal,” says Conboy.
“Religious radicalism can be a major threat to democracy; by definition, non-secular extremism undercuts tolerance,” he said. There has been increasing demand for a shift from Indonesia’s secular traditions, with some regions implementing Islamic laws such as mandatory headscarves for Muslim women, and calls for greater media censorship. In the province of Aceh caning for violations of religious rules has been imposed.
Despite chronic poverty and an official unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent as of 2006, among the highest in Asia, with another 30 percent considered underemployed, some in the country’s political elite have given low priority to the issues.
The nascent state of democracy and masses accustomed to following authority have thus far left room for politicians to escape accountability, but analysts say that situation cannot persist indefinitely. “Indonesia has both components. It has a suffering and frustrated population plus extremist movements eager to organise the people’s anger into a force that can fundamentally change the kind of country it has been since independence,” Winters said.
[But defense minister Juwono Sudarsono, who overseas a military committed to constitutional democracy and pluralism, is more optimistic. “We have in Yudhoyono a president whose personal integrity is impeccable and who is totally committed to attack mass poverty, inequities in development and corruption,” he says. “For all of the social unrest, economic challenges and natural disasters that he has faced in the past 22 months, Yudhoyono is essentially still seen as a force for good and of decency.”
A recent poll suggests that Yudhoyono is still trusted by 67 percent of the despondent and desperate who remain hopeful that things can and will improve under his leadership. “He is determined to ensure that democracy is socially and economically more accessible to those who have yet to be lifted from abject poverty” says Sudarsono. “That in itself will reduce the appeal of radical ideologies, be they be religious or secular-based .”] (adapted from Reuters).
Poverty is not really the problem, rather it is inactivity. If a young man has work then he is kept active and is less likely to fall in with extremist groups. He may still be poor, relatively, but so long as he is kept busy the problems are reduced.
So economic stagnation/low growth rates are more of a problem than simple poverty.
The biggest challenge for President Yudhoyono is to attack mass poverty, overcome inequities in development and combat corruption.
I think President Yudhoyono should prioritize combating corruption first. It is because of never-ending corruption since 1965 (Suharto new Order era), that we have mass poverty and inequities in development.
I think President Yudhoyono has failed big time in gaining the trust of mine and my peers in fighting corruption. He is picking only the ones that are not directly/indirectly linked to Suharto’s corruption cases.
PS: What is your view about corruption in the defense sector of our nation? How come the TNI Generals are wealthier than honest businessmen and entrepreneurs? I am interested to hear your view on that issue alone.
Best wishes.
Poverty by itself does not necessarily lead to violent extremism; but mass poverty provides justification for some extremist ideologies to resort to violence on behalf of the down-trodden.
So, yes, employment is key to eradicate violence and terror among the desperate. Relative depravation is often more telling than absolute depravation.
While it is true that corruption among high ranking military officials were rampant ten or fifteen years ago, it is fair to say that much less of such largesse are now accrued by current senior officers.
First, there has been a firm crack down on procurement mark-ups since April 2005__from around 100 percent to less than 25 percent now. I aim to bring down to less than 15 percent in 5 years time. Procurement above USD 50.000 now must pass through approval from the Ministry of Defense.
Second, military businesses have not done well in past 10 years; many have folded and or rendered bankrupt, mostly because of growing competition from leaner and more efficient private businesses. The old “octopus” of pervasive military corruption from its businesses has gone.
Whatever the political system is, as long as the grassroots civilian is content, then there would be unsatisfaction that would lead to the emergence of militant extremist.
IMHO, what should be done first is to create an environment in which the wong cilik is satisfied with life, or “Bread and spectacle”, so to speak. Give ’em bread, and try to lead ’em away from such unruly things like religious extremist.
The problem is that the government lacks the money to give any bread, and there’s too much people to put the spectacle on. And even if those two problem can be solved, there’s a little problem called time constraint.
Can the bread and spectacle thingy be done before the damage of extremist completely torn the nation beyond repair?
Poverty does not endanger democracy, but poverty endangers humanity. To me, combating poverty is not solely SBY’s job, it’s everybody’s job. The whole society shall take responsibilities for not doing enough to address the chronic problems. We heard enough complaints, we need contributors, and thanks God they exist.
As head of state, SBY with his team maybe in the best position to mobilize these contributors; the middle class people with no political affiliation, who are awaiting for a call to action to unite their efforts. These people may contribute financially to improve local economic engine that will create new jobs, and / or perform volunteer works on their Saturdays and probably Sundays.
As for radical groups and extremists, they exist everywhere in the world, from underdeveloped to developed countries alike. It’s human nature. How to tackle it locally, wisely, is more important, since we can not just apply the recipes used by other countries.
What I’m trying to convey is that both of my dignity and humbleness as Indonesian keep intact, regardless the huge challenges that we are facing. We are working on it, and we are not alone.
It is also a combination of carrots & sticks when combating corruption especially in the procurement of defense equipment.
A harsh punishment then should be applied and this should be made to public that such crack-down is still being done, and an attractive “carrots” should also be given to those who contribute to the effort of establishing zero tolerance to corruption..
Oh, by the way, have the salaries of the military officials been improved? – this is also a step to eradicate corruption in the procurement process.
Aside from extremely religious-istic followers, one thing I find quite disturbing of Indonesian people (not just poor ones) is “regionalism” or “ethnicism” (“kita orang Jawa, kita harus bla…bla…bla”). So much that they force their beliefs upon others. Communities are becoming more and more heterogeous each day, and forcing your beliefs, opinions, and behaviors upon others is, I think, critically interferes with basic human rights. In my observation, our people have somewhat the highest level of prejudice in the whole world.
BTW, I was surprised (and delighted) that our Defense Minister has a blog, and the designer, Viking Karwur, is definitely a brilliant choice. It’s definitely a good thing, considering the current highly unreliable, erroneous state of POLRI’s Information Systems.
[ http://hendy.gauldong.net/2006/11/06/sistem-informasi-polri-bisa-meramalkan-pelanggaran/ ]
(so, Mr. Sudarsono, this is within your authority, isn’t it?) 😉
Menurut saya, kebanyakan orang miskin jadi tambah miskin karena mereka berusaha mencari tambahan duit dengan cara2 yang kurang tepat: berjudi, ngutang (ke lintah darat, etc.).
Mungkin kita bisa meniru Muhammad Yunus di Bangladesh:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_48/b4011089.htm
Sir, what do u thing of a view that poor countries were better off with authoritarian governments.
This idea is premised on the notion that strongman rulers in poor countries are better able to maintain stability, keep prices low, and mobilize a country’s limited resources towards productive ends so that these nations could progress economically.
They say: “development first, democracy later”. It’s because they see that poor countries must first reach some sort of middle income threshold before they can successfully democratize. Poor country is a weak country.
Attempting a democratic transition at this stage would seem to be inviting turbulence and even civil war.
We see China has a rapid growing economy even though it still has a communist government. What would china be if they push to install a full democracy in that 1.3 billion populated country.
What do you think is best for Indonesia?
Bung, India yang sudah terapkan itu demokrasi, sebagai negara demokrasi paling besar di dunia, tetap saja masih ada orang miskin.
Boleh dilihat dengan mudah di pinggir jalan. Belum lagi yang radikal punya politik, jangan ditanya, setiap negara bagian punya pemberontak sendiri-sendiri.
Mesti kita ingat juga, Hitler saja dipilih secara demokratis…
[Boeng, itoe India, iang soeda terapkeun itoe democratie, sebagih satoe negri democratie palign bessar di doenija, tetep sahadja mignsih ada itoe orang miskien….bole kowe tengok dengen moedah di pingiran djalan poen. Blon lagih iang radicaal poenja politiec, djangan ditanjah, setijap negara bahagejan poenaj itoe pembrotna sendirih2 itoe….mistih kita inget djoewa, Hitler sahadja dipili setjara democratiec poen… ]
The debate centering on poverty, democracy and development goes on with publication of Edward Luce’s book on India entitled “Inspite of the Gods” (2006). It marginally compares the political economic trajectory of India and China, wo of Asia’s rising economic giants, which have so many important implications for Asia and the Pacific, and the world.
Both nations still have about 400 million of its citizens living in abject poverty, with no immediate access to basic human needs. Which would you choose, India’s “democracy” or China’s “authoritarian” path. A defining contrast to Indonesia: both are land-mass countries, not anarchipelagic state, which has tremendous implications for the delivery of basic services: clean water, energy, public housing, health care and primary education. The performance race is on!
Poverty and Democracy , Chances for many poor family in Indonesia to come out from poverty often were being cut down by unfair system or nepotism ( still hapenned even today like saying”aku anak siapa?, aku hanya anak simbok” so I have no chance for example).
In several countries like Japan or Europe many young generations they have more chances to chose what they want to be, if they want to study they can easily support by the existing system for example., if they have no finacial support they can do partime job or look for scholarships, but still possible to work for their dream.
So they work for their dream, to be whatever they want to. In several case many our student, it is difficult ! even if one is brilliant student but many of them have to give up their dreams because of ” aku anak simbok” (nobody), but they still try their best, dream is voorbij but they still work for supporting their study but than should says “goodbye my University, I am working” for support my small sister and brothers.
Like many development studies says that the poverty can be eradicate with strugling to combat for the enemy of saving, but most in our cases, it will not work, No acces to bank loan for the poor etc. eventhoug we have saved some money already in the bank (our simbok’s hobby is saving).
That is why Muhammad Yunus system will be always good( meski sebenarnnya kita sudah punya), because “simbok” knows how to save money even in underpoverty condition.
In japanese will be said “huma no hone”(bone of horse=nobody).
So “Chance for everybody” ( for anak bangsa including ” anak simbok” and not “Chance for my body” (my people) should be Demonstrated in all system.
In the future when Indonesia would free from poverty. In that time we will be the most democratic country in the world, or when we able to apply democratic value in all system and open chance for the poor, “anak simbok” will not staying in Poverty. Chance for every body!
Our dream”bokutachi no yume”
sincerely,
Perhaps India is a good example of the danger faced by the combination of massive poverty and extremist movements. Indian journalist Ramtanu Maitra portrays India’s leadership as ineffective and “adrift,” neglecting essential infrastructure development, and ignoring the crushing poverty that afflicts the majority of India’s population.
See “Without Leadership, India Drifts Dangerously”
at http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2006/3349india_adrift.html
“Violent militant cells have been set up virtually all around India. New Delhi talks about them only when those militants carry out bloody actions, such as the explosion of bombs on the Mumbai railroad last July.”
‘It is also ignored that some parts of India are reeling under Maoist-terrorist threats. The Indian Maoists, known in the 1960s as Naxalites, have proliferated….It is widely recognized that the Maoists in India have taken control of a huge swath of land running from the state of Bihar in the north all the way to the state of Tamil Nadu in the south, encompassing in the process highly underdeveloped areas of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. One common thread that runs through this massive stretch of land is: underdevelopment and poverty.”
The first thing Indonesian government need to tackle poverty is COMPASSION. However i think that word has been deleted from the Indonesian government dictionary a long long time ago.
Pak Juwono, just in case you haven’t seen this: http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/about/show_indonesia.html
Regards. LS