User:Debora.ds/Democracy in Indonesia

Democracy in Indonesia is a reflection of historical process and a political journey, started from the conceptions meaning according to the founding fathers of Indonesia Independence, especially Mohammad Hatta, and Soetan Sjahrir. Other than that the whole process portrayed the growth of democracy in Indonesia beginning from Indonesia Independence, then Republik Indonesia Serikat, the rise of the dictatorship phase during Soekarno and followed by Soeharto, from consolidation democracy post 1998 Reformation up until now.

Democracy from the Indonesia Founding Father Perspective

After the Indonesia Independence in August 17 1945, the Dwitunggal leader consisted of Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta blatantly declared the Independence of Indonesia through the reading of Proclamation Text, the democratic point stated that "atas nama bangsa Indonesia" which literal meaning was "on behalf of Indonesia nation" then according to George McTurnan Kahin it is "we the people of Indonesia" the definition of nation here stated that it was meant for the Indonesian people. Therefore Indonesia independence is independence towards its own people.

Even after reaching the consensus independence as a nation, each and everyone of the founding father have their own conception of democracy, most of them trying to put balance from the Western liberal capitalist perspective and Eastern communist, especially the political freedom from the Western combined with the equal economy from the East. Even though there was still biased inclination, whether inclination for the West or East, it has become the characteristic of Indonesia democracy development.

Democracy According to Seokarno

Soekarno

According to the first President of Indonesia, Seokarno, Indonesia democracy born from the will for fighting its independence, Indonesia democracy embryo was embedded during the resistance towards imperialism and colonialism, it was written in his book, Indonesia Menggugat and Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi, explicitly inspired from the independence movement from around the world, from the journey of Muhammad, Jesus Christ, William de Oranje, Mahatma Gandhi, Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, and other independence figures from around the world.

According to Soekarno, democracy is a "people's government". Furthermore, for him, democracy is the tools for developing government who give rights to the people indirectly to participate the governmental process. But, democracy that Soekarno wants and conceptualized don't want to imitate the modern democracy from French Revolution, because according to Soekarno those democracy style only benefited the bourgeois and it was the fertile ground for capitalist. Therefore, Soekarno conceptualized his own version of democracy, version that's ideal for Indonesia.

The detailed stated that Soekarno conception of democracy poured into his own conceptual thinking, the marhaenism. Marhaenism is his creation of thought during his time as a university student in Bandung. Marhaenism essentially has become the knife of social analysist, politics, and economy in Indonesia. Marhaenism contained of three main point known as "Trisila", which is:

• Socio-nationalism, which means Indonesia nasionalism that Soekarno wants is nationalism that have the social characteristic where placing humanity values inside those nationalism itself, so is not chauvinist nationalism.
• Socio-democracy, which means that democrations desired by Soekarno is not just about politics, but also economy, and democracy departed from local wisdom of Indonesian culture through deliberation.
• Cultural Divinity, which means that Soekarno wants Indonesian people to have faith in God without the "religious-egoism". Without sectarianism, respecting each other differences. Not applying God's law or some kind of religious formulation system in the political field.

Between those three moral principles, Soekarno's ideas and conception about democracy lies in the second moral principle of Trisila Marhaenism, which is socio-democracy. Socio-democracy according to Soekarno is when democracy itself is the underlying values of the society, not only for the inclusive people, in this case Soekarno criticize French and American democracy according to him only benefiting only the chosen few, the borgeous group, when simplified, Soekarno not only want the democracy applied in politics but also in economy.

Still taking up from the book Di Bawah Bendera Revolusi, Soekarno then explained further about the socio-democracy concept, which is conceptualizing politic-democracy values and democracy-economy. According to him politic-democracy is the democracy that applies in Europe post French Revolution, which is democracy consisted of some system representative democracy inside of a parliamentary institution, - Soekarno call it parliamentaire democratie and politieke democratie - Soekarno saw that those values indeed applied during parliamentary elections, however those European democracy politics stop there at the parliament only, meanwhile in the economy field there was no democracy values applied, the cause of widespread poverty - and for the economy problems Soekarno blamed the political democracy that supported the growth of capitalism.

Soekarno then established a formulation, for creating balance in democracy, which mean the democracy that he wanted not only about politics, but also economy. According to Soekarno democracy economy is the democracy that desire the existence of distribution of wealth for every layers of society, so it created some sort of equality. The equality that he meant is different from the equality system that communism use, which eliminate individual personal wealth, but other kind of equality where every ownership rights - he called it privaatbezit - every citizens is assured by the government, in this case parliaments which is the result of political democracy given the role as protector of the ownership rights in society through the creations of rules and laws that are equal and just for every single person without exception, whether is the borgeous class or the proletarian - including the society class of people who have small amount of wealth which he called marhaen.

After that, in the next development steps, especially during the established of Indonesia national principle held in June 1st 1945 during the assembly of The Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI), Soekarno offered conceptual foundation for the Independence of Indonesia, which was called Pancasila - even though Soekarno didn't like to be called the founding father of Pancasila, but instead he prefer to be addressed as "the groundsman of Pancasila". During his speech in June 1st 1945, Soekarno stated the conception of democracy that he offered was:

"Principle number 4, now I suggested. During these three days I haven't heard those principles, which is the principle of well-being, principle that stated there wouldn't be poverty in Independent Indonesia. As I said before; the principle of San Min Chu is Mintsu, Min Chuan, Min Sheng (which mean): Nationalism, Democracy, Socialism. Then what's our principle must (based on?): Whether we want Indonesia's freedom, where the capitalist rampantly growing or where the wider social spectrum is living prosperously, where everyone has enough to eat, clothes to wear, live in prosperity, on the lap of the motherland which provide us with enough resources for them? Which one will we choose, ladies and gentleman? Don't you ever think that just because the House of Representative has been built, it automatically meant that we are a prosperous country. We already saw all those country in Europe which is the House Representative, is a parliamentaire demokratie. Isn't that why Europe is where all the capitalist growing?"

In this moral principle explicitly Soekarno wants some kind of democracy political system that's not just about the politics that experiencing the democratization, but also the economy, by enacting "populist" as the main foundation and executed by principles of "the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations among representatives". Soekarno don't want Indonesia to be a liberal democracy country like the West, which society is capitalistic, Soekarno wants Indonesia to be democratic country where the people is socialistic, which mean democracy not only about political freedom, like the freedom of speech, the freedom of choice, and the freedom of joining any kind of organisational union, but also the democracy that also provide every economical resources for the the people or simply people has the power over economy and resistance against poverty.

Soekarno also has this other conception about democracy that he stated in February, 21st 1957. His conceptions contains his dissatisfaction and rejection towards democracy system parliamenter where it was applied in Indonesia at that time, because Soekarno thought that the parliamenter democracy is a disappointing Western democracy. Beside that, those conception of him about democracy is widely known as Guided Democracy or Mutual Cooperation Democracy where the leadership centered on integralistic.

Democracy According to Mohammad Hatta

Mohammad Hatta

Just like Soekarno, the first Vice President of Indonesia, Mohammad Hatta also one of the figure from the movement focused in criticizing the Western liberal. The critics towards Western democracy is not about the meaning of politic, but instead the political life itself, or liberalisme in general. In the pamphlet of Towards the Indonesia Independence, Hatta stated:

"Therefore, Western democracy which is born from the French Revolution is not bringing the people the real freedom, but instead it created capitalism power. Because just democracy itself is not enough for achieving the ultimate democracy, which is Population Sovereignty. Must also be the existence of economy democracy."

Western democracy main joint is liberalism which have this political and economical side, the political democracy and capitalism system inside the economy. Specifically from Hatta perspective, the capitalist economy system was created first (from the borgeous class where they rule the parliament in the past) and then the borgeous capitalist created a system of democracy politics with the main purpose is ensuring the sustainability of capitalism system itself. Hatta admited that Western democracy is able to ensure the sovereignty of people in the field of politics, but because the political life is connected with the economy life, while the economy system inside the Western democracy don't contain population sovereignty, that's why he concluded that the Western democracy system can become manipulative, which is "turning a good principle such as population sovereignty into a people-eating tool".

Western political democracy - as stated by William Ebenstein and Edwin Fogelman - concentrate on "individual interest" in the political world. It means that individual person with their own basic rights is the main unit in the political life. Nation and several other groups existed have the main purpose to serve these individuals. Hatta stated his opinion that Western individualism spirit in politics has to be rejected. In the other hand, Hatta wants a democracy system based on togetherness and kinship which reflected Indonesia hereditary traditions.

Hatta think that individualism is a disease, and must be avoided at all cost, Hatta then talk about a version of democracy that's perfect for Indonesia - like Soekarno - which is democracy in political field and economy that doesn't contain individualism. Hatta is very certain, the democracy version that he imagined will come to reality because the high suitability of people and traditions in Indonesia, which is togetherness and kinship.

The democratist characteristic of native Indonesian came from the togetherness or collectivism. This collectivism portrayed by the demeanor of locals who loves helping each other, mutual cooperation, etc. Collectivism in Indonesia also applied during decision making through deliberation reaches consensus. This is totally different from the habits form the Western democracy that's individualist.

According to Hatta, togetherness must have meaning, collective ownership or some kind of production tool (land) can't operate with distribution, but be worked on together too. In other word, individual effort with the help of society which reflected the togetherness of native Indonesian these days, must be replaced by collective ownership that are worked on together too. This is what he called, collectivisme baroe, which should be the standard of the economy of independent Indonesia. This meaning which then sticks to Cooperation Organisation as a new collectivism.

Since the Indonesia movement, Hatta in his speech titled Koperasi: Jembatan ke Demokrasi Ekonomi keep talking about Cooperation Organisation as the onlu economy organisation that put the joint that are strong for building the collapsed economy. Hatta believes that because Cooperation Organisation work with the spirit of self-help and oto-activity. Which means Cooperation Organisation trying to build self-confidende and helping each other in society as a guide for the strong will. That spirit that existed in a long time side to side with the growth of social democracy, politics and economy. This can easily said because the strong building of democracy most existed because it was fertilized by the spirit of Cooperation Organisation. Democracy can live healthy and strong, if we maintain those sense of responsibility, because Cooperation Organisation beside defending common needs, developing inside the souls of every human involved, aware of its own self-worth.

Hatta recognized that, democracy under the Soekarno leadership, exactly after the disbandment of Dwitunggal and after Soekarno published Presidential Decree in July 1959 shifted into democracy that imitated the dictactorship of communism from the East, democracy as he thought has been used only as a tool for perpetuating authority. Because of that, Hatta said that Orde Lama (Old Order) is periode where there was a "democration crisis". In 1966, right after the Soekarno regime transitioned into otoritarioan and Dwitunggal have splited, Hatta started correcting, even criticizing "guided democracy" or "mutual cooperation democracy" conceived by Soekarno. Hatta criticize the democracy version that Soekarno applied inside article titled Demokrasi Kita published in Pandji Masjarakat magazine in 1966 that used to be banned by the Orde Lama (Orde Lama).

Democracy According to Soetan Sjahrir

Soetan Sjahrir

Just like Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, first Indonesia Prime Minister, Soetan Sjahrir also have his own concept of democracy, however what makes him different is Sjahrir is not as hardcore in rejecting the West version of democracy as Soekarno and Hatta. Sjahrir despise the fascist more than the Western capitalist, that's why not surprising if Sjahrir prefer to have dialog with the Western allies, like the United States of America, Great Britain, and Netherland.

Beside fascism, Sjahrir also attacking the communism and its democracy system as ideology that betrays socialism because its tendency to ignore human rights, like Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. Because of his attack towards the communist, the opposition side from the far left spectrum mocked him and calling him as "soka" - referring as a type of flower - the acronym from the right socialist, because of his obsession towards the Western world.

His hatred towards fascism and communism affected his conception about democracy and the government system during the Independent Indonesia. Sjahrir ideas about democracies and Indonesia's government poured in his book titled Our Battle that was published after the Independence of Indonesia. For Sjahrir, Indonesia government at that time as a newly independent, it was governed by the fascist collaborator (in this case is the Japanese Empire), that's why he think it has to be "democratized"

"As soon as possible every government have to be demokratiseer, so that the people can enter and arranged themselves into the government fields. This is easy to do and it also needs to be done by reviving and building the House of Representatives."

One of the activist and simpathizer of Socialist Party of Indonesia (PSI), Rahman Tolleng stated that Sjahrir ideology as a socialist-republic, "because he (Sjahrir) emphasize on the people participations," said Tolleng. This is the background of the next phase Sjahrir changed the presidential system into parliamenter so the participation can be maximized.

In his thinking, Sjahrir clearly has alot of difference with Soekarno and Hatta about the concept of democracy. If Soekarno and Hatta saw democracy as a individualism must be avoided at all cost, whie Sjahrir thought that individualism is the important element in a nations and its democratic governmental system. According to Vedi Hadiz, the politic lecturer in University National Singapore, Sjahrir ideology is mix of social-democracy tradition with liberalism. The Sjahrir social-democracy, for example, we can see his attention and movement towards building the education for society. While his liberalism came from his attitude that supported human rights and individual freedom.

His political attitude as a socialist while agreeing with some of the Western democracy values and liberalism not only clashed with the fascist, but also with the communist. For Sjahrir democracy and socialist can be achieved using sensing principle, not through tracks of never-ending revolutions - in this case Sjahrir is the opposite as Soekarno who stated that "revolutions is not over", but he is in the same page as Hatta who stated that "the revolutions is over".

Sjahrir conception of democracy and socialism which can be achieved through diplomatic lane not brutality of revolutions he said during Socialist Congress of Asia II in Bombay (now Mumbai), India in November 6 1956. In that Congress Sjahrir stated:

"The socialist community in Asia recognize that they have the revolutionary patience as the communist community, but they can see it clearly that the communist is heading towards the wrong path. Guided by the teaching of Lenin and Stalin about class struggle, they destroy what's inside their own self, the spirit of socialism, which is the ability to respecting humanity and human dignity."

Inside the speech clearly stated that Sjahrir rejecting the democratic system a'la Bolshevik and Communist International that oppressed the human sovereignty using the system of hierarchy, authoritarian, and totalitarian inside politburo of Communist Party and individual human dignity creating socialism that he practised in the same line as the liberal democracy in the West, with just one difference, there is no acknowledgement towards the economy system of capitalist - in this case Sjahrir was in the same page with Soekarno and Hatta.

Parliamentary Democracy

Parliementary democracy era in Indonesia, also known as the constitutional democracy era. The emersion of this particular parliamentary system in Indonesia caused by the fall of the first Presidential Cabinet in November 14 1945 caused by the published of Vice Presidential Edict No. X/1945 in October 16 1945 and followed by Edict of Government in November 3 1945 contained exclamations for building political parties in Indonesia.

Lists of party that were created after the published of Vice Presidential Edict X

No.	Party Name	Leader	Date	Ideology	Description
1	Majelis Sjuro Moeslimin Indonesia (MASJUMI)	Sukiman Wiryosanjoyo	November 7th, 1945	Islamism, nationalism Islam
2	Indonesia Communist Party (PKI)	Mr. Moehammad Yoesoef	November 7th, 1945	Communisme
3	Indonesia Labour Party (PBI)	Nyono	November 8th, 1945	Socialism, far left	Later joined PKI.
4	Commoners Party (PRJ)	Soetan Dewanis	November 8th, 1945	Socialism
5	Indonesia Christian Party (PARKINDO)	Ds. Probowinoto	November 10th, 1945	Protestanisme, Democratic Christian
6	Socialist Party of Indonesia (PSI)	Amir Sjarifoedin	November 10th, 1945	Socialism, social-democrat
7	Social People Party (PRS)	Soetan Sjahrir	November 20th, 1945	Socialisme, social-democrat	In December 1945, joined with PSI and Soetan Sjahrir became the permanent leader
8	Indonesia Catholic Party (PKRI)	I. J. Kasimo	December 8th, 1945	Catholikisme, Democratic Christian
9	Unity of Marhaen Party (PERMEI)	J. B. Assa	December 17th, 1945	Marhaenism, Nationalism
10	Indonesia National Party (PNI)	Joyosukarto	January 29th, 1946	Nationalism, Marhaenism	This PNI is different from the PNI that Soekarno built in 1927.

[[Berkas:Kabinet_Sjahrir.jpg|thumb|321x321px|Sjahrir 2nd Cabinet, as you can see in the picture, Amir Sjarifoedin before involved in PKI Rebellion 1948 (second person from the left standing with glasses on) and Soetan Sjahrir (sitting in a bench in the far right)]] Continuity of Government Edict is the existence of the announcement of Central Indonesian National Committee Working Institution (BPKNIP) about the alteration of Minister accountability for the Parliament, in this case Indonesia National Committee Center (KNIP). Proposal from the BPKNIP then approved by President Soekarno in November 14th, 1945. Therefore, automatically the government system in Indonesia is not presidential anymore, but changed into parliamentary.

First parliamentary system of government in Indonesia started in November 14th 1945 until March, 12 1946 under the leadership of Indonesia First Prime Minister, Soetan Sjahrir or also called Sjahrir Cabinet I. The steps of changing Indonesia government system from the presidential to a parliamentary considered as a Sjahrir ideology steps that embrace democratic-social and supported Western democracy system with its strong parliamentary.

Those political instability in the Indonesia political nation at that time of parliamentary democracy caused by most of the government cabinets only last for eight months, this is not only affecting political field, but also hindered the growth of national economy at that time. Economy became obstructed because the government didn't have enough time to implements their work program and the political instability that occured from the central spread wider until the rebellion after rebellion arise like in Darul Islam, Revolutionary Government of Indonesia Republic, etc.

Beside the political instability, economy, and national security, parliamentary democracy upsets Soekarno. During the parliamentary democracy, President Soekarno only work as a head of state not more than "stamp man" or "rubberstamp". Beside that, the military also demanded their participation to be involved in the national's issues because the military was born from the revolutionary independence spirit that's why they deserve to be involved in the political world.

The peak of political instability during the parliamentary democracy era is when the constituent members failed with their attempt in building new constitution for Indonesia. The constituent failure is caused by the constituent member consisted of political parties inside parliament never cooperate for achieving the consensus in building the new constitution. This repetitive failures then pushed Soekarno to express what he called "President Conception" in February 21st 1957, in those conception Soekarno said that parliamentary democracy is a Western democracy and must be replaced. In the end the peak of political chaos ended when President Soekarno issued a presidential decree in July, 5th 1959 stated that the Indonesia constitution returned to the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 at the same time ended the last parliamentary cabinet who's lead by Ali Sastromidjojo or widely known as Ali's Cabinet II and every system of parliamentary democracy in Indonesia.

Guided Democracy

After the parliamentary democracy era has ended, Indonesia officially entering new phase of democracy, which is known as guided democracy. Guided democracy started when President Soekarno issued a Presidential Decree in July, 5th 1959. But before the decree announced, parliamentary democracy or constitutional democracy still last as the establishment of transitional cabinet who's lead by Ir. Djuanda or Djuanda Cabinet consisted of people who is not part of the dominant coalition party, often it was called Extra Parliamentary Cabinet. Those cabinet come into play since April 9th, 1957 until July 10th 1959.

Far before the guided democracy established, Soekarno actually have already stated his desire for changing the democracy system in Indonesia in January, 27th 1957 in Bandung. Soekarno's ideas started with his notions to have his power regarding his involvement in government system back, even though the Constituent have not finished the development of the new constitution. Continuation of his ideas, Soekarno then gathered the party leaders for the sake of establishing institution called National Council.

The peak of his ideas and conceptions of democracy which he dreamed of start to take of in February, 21st 1957 widely known as President Conception. Soekarno's conception stated in front of the government cabinet minister, the political leaders, and armed forces officer. The contents of those conception were:

1. The parliamentary democracy is not suitable, must be replaced by the guided democracy.
2. To implement the guided democracy the Kabinet Gotong Royong must be established which started with "Four-legged Cabinet".
3. The establishment of National Council consisted of functional group as the President advisor.

It was concluded that Presidential Conception which was stated by Soekarno was; 1) changing the government system from parliamentary to presidential, 2) strive to embrace all of the existing political power, especially four election winning party in 1955, PNI, Masyumi, NU, and PKI, and also embracing the military in formation of the National Council.

Those conceptions actually received many criticism from the party leaders, like Muhammad Natsir from Masyumi and Imron Rosjadi from NU, and also a fraction of PNI's members (later changed into PNI OSA-Usep). Peaked on March, 2nd 1957, the fifth party consisted of Masyumi, NU, PSII, Catholic Party, and PRI issued a question rejecting the Soekarno's conceptions. While PKI was the only party all aboard with Soekarno's conception and also most of the PNI's members (later changed into PNI Ali-Soerachman).

Although received many pressure from the right wing parties, Soekarno still run the conceptions with the help of the left wing parties, which is PKI and PNI. In March 14th, 1957, the Constitution were made regarding the state of emergency and also a transitional cabinet were made under the leadership of Ir. Juanda. The peak was when Soekarno then sparks his conception in the form of Presidential Decree in July, 5th 1959 which started the guided democracy era in Indonesia. The contents of the Presidential Decree such as:

1. Establish the Constituante disbandment
2. The 1945 Constitution to be validated again for the entire Indonesia Nation, starting from the day the decree were set and the Temporary Constitution not applicable anymore.
3. The establishment of Temporary People's Consultative Assembly consisting of the House of Representatives members and the representative from the regional area were added, and also established The Temporary Supreme Advisory Council will be held as soon as possible.

Even though President Conception aimed to unite the entire political powers that were available and create political national stability, however the implementation of President Soekarno established a dictatorship system above the name of guided democracy. In this period also the Dwitunggal leadership was disbanded, Mohammad Hatta chose to stand outside the government and became Soekarno's critic thorough his writings and considered Soekarno changed into a dictator since 1956.

According to Miriam Budiardjo, the characteristic of the guided democracy era is the escalated power of presidential domination, the growth of communism, and the entrance of military as a element of social-politic. President Decree in July, 5th opened an opportunity for national political stability because it can maintain the government position at least for the next 5 years, but the July, 5th 1959 Presidential Decree was changed during the release of MPRS Decree No. III/1963 which says Soekarno as the president for life. Those MPRS decrees also overstepped the limits of a president's position and turned Soekarno into a dictator. This matter became a misappropriation of the constitution and democracy during the guided democracy era.

Other kind of abuse that were applied by Soekarno during the guided democracy era in 1960, Soekarno disbanding The House of Representative which was the legislative institution, whereas the 1945 Constitution does not give that authority to a president. Even then, after the disbandment of The House of Representative, President Soekarno established legislative institution, the legislature should be led by the people, legislative members should be elected by the people, not the president. The legislative that Soekarno's build then called as The House of Representative Mutual Cooperation (DPR-GR). Practical, because the DPR-GR were created by the president, so the control function from the legislative institution for the executive were removed. Beside that, the chairman's position of DPR-GR made as the Ministry by the President Soekarno, which mean the legislative were under the executive, it is stated in the Presidential Decree No, 14/1960 thumb|280x280px|Soekarno speech in front of thousand Cadre of Indonesia Communist Party Besides the legislative institution, the judiciary institution also received an intervention from President Soekarno, one of them is the president has the authority to intervene in the judicial institution, namely the Supreme Court. President Soekarno's intervention against the legislative judicial getting strengthened with Constitutional No. 19/1964, This means that it is legal for the president to interfere with any decision made by the judiciary.

Other than the government, the tendency towards communism also occurred in the era of guided democracy, one of which was President Soekarno forming an extra-constitutional institution, which National Front was part of the strategy of the Communist International (Komintern) to form a state based on the principle of "people's democracy". Therefore the National Front which was formed by President Soekarno then became political ground for Indonesia Communist Party (PKI) and cannot be tampered with because its position is outside the constitution yet is protected by the president.

The guided democracy initiated by President Soekarno increasingly shows deviations and moves away from the concept and values ​​of democracy itself, not only because of the full intervention in the legislative institution and judicial but also the banning of the political parties which considered to be against President Soekarno, such as Masjumi and Indonesia Social Party (PSI) disbanded then Soetan Sjahrir was exiled to Swiss until his death in 1966, so as the pers and the art institution that were against President Soekarno or anyone who have a conflict with PKI, just like Harian Pandji Masjarakat from the culture activist who joined in the Manikebu were also banned. Besides that President Soekarno prioritizes foreign policy which is referred to as "Lighthouse Politics", This has an impact on the neglect of the national economic sector which causes large inflation and poverty.

The era of guided democracy ended leaving the darkest historical event for the Indonesia Nation, widely known as the 30 September Movement of Indonesia Communist Party or G30S/PKI. The total of casualty during those incident not only 6 general and 1 Indonesia Army Officer, but also (allegedly) million of communist people who actually doesn't know anything about the G30S/PKI get to be slaughtered almost in every part of Indonesia territory. G30S/PKI besides ended the guided democracy era, at the same time it also started a new phase of dictatorship, New Order military dictatorship lead by General Soeharto or widely known as Pancasila Democracy.

Pancasila Democracy

Major General Soeharto during the funeral of 6 General and 1 Young Army Officer victim of G30S

The Pancasila democracy started with the darkest historical event in Indonesia, which is The 30 September Movement G30S/PKI. The G30S rebellion occurred between September 30 and October 1 1965, Sukarno preferred to call it Gestok (First October Movement) while Suharto preferred to call it Gestapu (Thirty September Movement). This event claimed the lives of approximately three million people - according to Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, and also placed Indonesia as the country with the fourth largest number of genocide cases in the world after Nazi Germany, Democratic Cambodia, and Rwanda. However, apart from the humanitarian events that followed, the G30S also brought a wind of social, political, and economic change in Indonesia.

The guided democracy system which was used as the basis for the establishment of a dictatorial government by Soekarno after the issuance of the Presidential Decree on July 5 1959 did not last long. Under the sole leadership of President Soekarno, which was based on the concept of Nasakom (Nationalist, Religious and Communist) to unite all elements of socio-political power in Indonesia, it turned out to be unsuccessful, because Soekarno's tendency toward communist groups and banning right-wing groups gave rise to a potential new political conflict that could make politics in Indonesia unstable. Coupled with the economic crisis and political conflict between the Indonesian Communist Party and the Indonesian National Army, the Old Order regime finally collapsed and Indonesia was replaced by a new regime known as the New Order under the leadership of General Soeharto.

After taking over power from President Soekarno based on the March Eleventh Order (Supersemar), Soeharto then became Sukarno's successor as the second President of the Republic of Indonesia and officially the New Order period or Pancasila democratic era began. According to Haniah Hanafie and Suryani, in running the government, President Soeharto based it on an organizational framework known as the "ABG Path" (an abbreviation for ABRI, Bureaucracy and Golkar). Through the ABG route, the state determines its political policies, this makes Indonesia - as Karl D. Jackson called Bureaucratic Policy or "Bureaucratic Political Society", which means that every decision is taken by the military junta through a bureaucratic structure and system.

In fact, the first time when the New Order was formed, they were supported by almost all Indonesian people (except the left wing groups, which were almost completely massacred during the G30S). Many people from various circles such as students, religious leaders, intellectuals, scholar, and so on have hopes that the New Order can return Indonesian democracy to the right track, a democracy that is based on Pancasila. Therefore, according to Miriam Budiardjo, during the New Order era, Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and the Decree of the People's Consultative Assembly became the formal basis in force in Indonesia, so that this period was also called Pancasila democracy.

President Soeharto (1970)

The first step of the New Order in the process of reconstructing the democratic system in Indonesia, as previously mentioned, was that the New Order aimed to straighten out Indonesia's democratic ideals which had deviated into a dictatorship under President Soekarno's rule during the guided democracy era (Old Order). One of the things that was done to eliminate the Old Order dictatorship was to cancel MPRS Decree no. III/1963 which contained the appointment of Soekarno as president for life, and the position of president was then revised again to become an elective position (elected periodically) for a period of five years. Then the MPRS Decree No. 1970, the contents of which restored the independence of the judiciary. The legislative institution, namely the People's Representative Council for Mutual Cooperation (DPR-GR), also had its control rights and functions restored over the executive institution and the Chairman of the DPR-GR was no longer a minister under the President, but had an equal position with the President, apart from the President's right to intervene in Parliament. revoked. Freedom of the press and arts was also restored, figures from political parties who had been arrested and exiled during the guided democracy era were released, one of whom was Soetan Syahrir, but Sjahrir died before he could return to Indonesia.

In the economic field, the New Order also attempted to restore the national economic sectors that were neglected during the Old Order, one of which was to open the tap for foreign investment as much as possible to carry out sustainable national development. One of them was Freeport-McMoRan which invested its money in Indonesia in 1967 to explore gold resources in Papua (then Irian Jaya).

The period of Pancasila democracy showed success in politics, this was proven by the success of holding regular general elections, namely 1971, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, and 1997. The existence of regular elections was indeed the initial determination of the New Order to rebuild democracy. Indonesia, and this was regulated in the Law on General Elections in 1969, exactly one year after General Soeharto was appointed as the Second President of the Republic of Indonesia in 1968 or two years after being appointed as Official President in 1967, and three years after receiving the March Eleventh Order (SUPERSEMAR). This is by the New Order slogan, namely; implement the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila purely and consistently.

After national politics and economics returned to stability, it gradually emerged that a concentration of power had been created in President Soeharto. The dominance of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia became increasingly clear, the bureaucracy became more complicated and restricted people's freedom, and also Golongan Karya turned into a dominant political organization in Indonesian politics. President Soeharto's government has openly turned into an authoritarian regime, but this time it is not left-wing authoritarianism like in the Soekarno era, but more like a military junta dictatorship, because the military can be anywhere, occupying strategic public positions, which is what it should be in a democracy. there must be no military intervention in it.

The public began to realize that democratic values ​​were absent from the implementation of elections held by the New Order. For example, there was a party fusion policy that resulted in all nationalist groups being merged into the Indonesian Democratic Party and all Islamist groups being merged into the United Development Party, while Golongan Karya remained a non-party political organization at that time. Golkar's non-party position turned out to be an advantage for the New Order, because only Golkar was allowed to have administrators down to the village and sub-district level, apart from that the government also implemented a monoloyalty policy for civil servants to oblige them to vote for Golkar in every election, this shows what Miriam Budiardjo calls injustice in the political system during the Pancasila democracy period.

The peak of the anomaly during the Pancasila democracy era was the spread of corruption, collusion, and nepotism (abbreviated as KKN) and economic development was not felt by the people which then gave rise to problems of poverty like at the end of the guided democracy era. The result was that groups anti-President Soeharto became increasingly stronger, especially intellectual groups such as students and youth. Student groups from various universities throughout Indonesia and also student organizations that are members of the Cipayung Group staged demonstrations demanding that Suharto step down from his position as President of Indonesia. Finally, due to continuous waves of demonstrations calling for him to resign and losing the trust of those closest to him, President Soeharto declared his resignation on May 21 1998, or what is known as the 1998 Reformation which also marked the end of the era of Pancasila democracy.

Reformation Era

The political reform process in Indonesia after the fall of President Soeharto in May 1998 has opened up opportunities for the growth of democratic values ​​to create a good government. The reform process is divided into two phases, namely:

President Habibie's Development Reformation Cabinet

In fact, this transition phase is the shortest phase, but the most important, because the failure of a country in its democratization process depends on the democratic transition process. According to Richard Gunther, the transition is:

"Begins with the breakdown of the former authoritarian regime and ends with the establishment of a relatively stable configuration of political institutions within a democratic regime"

The democratic transition process or democratization process in Indonesia began when the transfer of power occurred from President Soeharto to Vice President B. J. Habibie on May 21 1998. It is called "transition" because in this phase Indonesia experienced a shift or transition of the political system from authoritarian to democratic, a transition from military supremacy to civil supremacy, the transition from centralization to decentralization, and so on, which means that Indonesia has moved away from the dictatorial system and is heading towards change as a democratic country.

The fall of the New Order has opened up opportunities for political reform and the democratization process in Indonesia. The experience of the New Order era has also made Indonesia realize that democracy is important for the growth of people's welfare, therefore all Indonesian people after 1998 have hopes that the democratization process under the leadership of President Habibie and the Development Reformation Cabinet can run well and that transition anomalies will no longer occur. democracy like from the Old Order to the New Order.

Democracy Consolidation

After the democratic transition succeeds, the next step is consolidating or strengthening the democratic system. According to Kacung Marijan, democratic consolidation is important because often several countries that try to carry out a democratization process actually fail midway because the transition process is not completed or fails in the process of consolidating a democratic system, so that the country returns to an authoritarian system and is ruled again by a dictator.

The main concept of the democratic consolidation process according to Andreas Schedler is that when a country faces regime stability, this means that consolidation is determined by how stable the regime is. In this case, democratic consolidation can be successful if the stability of the democratic regime can also be maintained. According to Guillermo O'Donnell, if regime consolidation has been achieved, it is very likely that regime stability will also be sustainable.

In the case of the democratic consolidation process in post-Reformation Indonesia, the new regime, in this case President Habibie and other Reformist groups, especially the political elites who are members of the Ciganjur Group (Amien Rais, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and Gus Dur) need to reach a consensus or joint agreement, President Habibie as Suharto's successor or replacement then acted on behalf of the old regime, and also the elements that included it, such as the Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia, bureaucrats, and the Karya Group to be able to reconcile with elements of the new political forces resulting from reform, such as students and prominent figures. political figures who are opponents or opponents of elements of the old political forces. If the consolidation process does not involve elements of the old political forces, especially from the military, then what might happen is that the military will carry out a coup against the reformist government and try to re-establish a military junta system, as was done by Franco's loyalist officers in Spain who were known with F-23 Movement.

However, fortunately for Indonesia - unlike what happened in Spain - because the military which was then led by Commander Wiranto accepted the reform and democratization process in Indonesia, almost all of President Soeharto's loyalists who sat in important positions agreed to consolidate democracy with the reformist group. , one of the results was the elimination of the dual function of ABRI (the army as a means of defense as well as socio-political) and the separation of the Indonesian National Police from ABRI, and ABRI itself then changed its name to the Indonesian National Army (TNI).

Challenges to Democracy

The process of consolidating democracy in Indonesia is also supported by improved economic growth after reform, at least in the macro economy, such as investment growth, foreign trade cooperation, and so on. However, the challenge is that the revival of the macro economy in Indonesia is not in line with micro economic growth, the economy of the people from the middle to lower classes is not yet sufficiently felt. Apart from that, according to Fuad Bawazier, the Indonesian economy is still largely supported by foreign debt, coupled with high levels of poverty, and so on.

Parliamentary democracy, guided democracy and Pancasila democracy always encounter political challenges, one of which is the emergence of dictatorial regimes. So in this reform era, the economic sector is a challenge for the process of consolidating democracy in Indonesia, as well as determining where Indonesia's democracy will go post-Reformation, will it be as envisioned by the founding fathers of the Indonesian nation or perhaps in another direction?

References

[[Category:Democracy]] [[Category:History of Indonesia]] [[Category:Politics of Indonesia]] [[Category:Political Party]] [[Category:Indonesia]] [[Category:Politicians]] [[Category:South East Asian Politics]]