South East Asia Studies on Democracy Dem
South East Asia Studies
Group Assignment on
Democracy
Lecturer: Aswin Ariyanto Azis, S.IP., M.DevSt
By:
HI English Class I-5
Group: Indonesia & Timor Leste
Arif Dwijatmiko
Yoska Rini Dhara Anindhita
Azib Muhammad B
( 135120407121007)
( 135120407121029)
( 135120407121040)
Department of International Relations
Faculty of Social and Political Science
Brawijaya University
2015
1
Table of Contents
The Definition of Democracy and the History......................................2
Type........................................................................................4
Principles..................................................................................4
Various Kinds of Democracy:.............................................................5
Democracy in Southeast Asia.......................................................5
Singapore..............................................................................8
Scope of Freedom...................................................................................... 9
Malaysia.............................................................................10
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 11
Brunei Darussalam..................................................................12
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 12
The Philippines......................................................................14
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 14
DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA..................................................15
Period in Indonesia’s Democracy.......................................................17
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 19
The Current Condition of Democracy in Indonesia...................................20
Election Bill Issue.................................................................................... 20
Bibliography.......................................................................23
2
DEMOCRACY
The Definition of Democracy and the History
Democracy is a sentence that taken from the Greek, "demos" means "person," and “kratos”
means “power” that is likened to a system that is running the government as democratic, the
government remains committed to the people, because the purpose of government is in the
interests of the people1. Quoting from the words of the first President of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln, democracy is government by the people, of the people, and for the people 2.
Individual freedom in political participation is the goal of a human right. A goal can indeed
make people directly involved in the running of a government of a country. In politics, the
real democracy cannot be run without the existence of a system of government that is in
power3, and which is divided into three parts, namely, the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches. So that the people should be a lifesaver on his own political freedom, since the
passage of the system of government is determined by the community share. Democracy itself
emerged as a form of uncertainty as to the role of society in government, and the resistance
against the dictatorial government action4.
There are three concept that support tems through the principle of democracy, ie 5:
1. Democracy as a process
It means that the democracy based on the supplying the technical of political
elections, such as mechanism, procedures, and condition that to formalities.
2. Democrazy as a stablization of state and conditions
It means that democracy is purpose to emerge the democratic situation. The citizen
and the governance likely support each other to activate the democracy in the country.
1 Written on Democracy in Brief. Bureau of International Information Programs. U.S Department of State. Page-1.
2 Ibid. Page 2.
3 Cherif Bassiouni.1998. Democracy: Its Principles and Achievement. Geneva: The Inter-Parliamentary Union. Page 4.
4 Noor Ms Bakry. 2009. Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar. Page 1
5 Cherif Bassiouni.1998. Democracy: Its Principles and Achievement. Geneva: The Inter-Parliamentary Union. Page 5
3. Democrazy as a outcome
It means that the effect of the domocracy ways, implied that the result of the
governance maybe successful, maybe not successful, depend on how the govenrment
has been conducted.
Democracy has existed since ancient Greek times at 4-6 Before Century, the people at that
time felt that the role of the public can voice their opinions since the city-state, where the area
is divided into several sections so that people can focus on giving an opinion on governance
in ancient Greece6, and finding that differences in the extent of democracy between Athens
and Sparta, finally Athens is the best democracies in Greece 7.
But, someting unique that happen in Greece, only the officially citizenship can support the
democracy, not require to slave, children, and women. Democacies governmental era in
ancient Greece was stopped when the peoples change to being feodalism, and centralization
governmental system for Paus8. The democracy emerged in Europe when the middle-century
become end, and signed when Magna Charta is born. Magna Charta9 is established in 1215,
that explain about the limitation of King’s authorization between the Kingdom and the
Civilians (under the Human Rights) in United Kingdom.
Democracies happen in Europe based on reformaton and enlightment era. Church as the main
controller and the most influenced sector, being destroyed by the democracy itself in 16
Century10, and called Religion reformation. The liberty of political responsibility is include
the human rights, ownership righst, and voters act (John Locke). And mostly the western
democration is based on ancient Greek and continuely by the reformation in Europe, finally
the democratic thinker is shared to all of the world.
Type
According to the based principles of ideology, democracy can be distinguished into:
6 Ibid. Page 2
7 Paper of Robert K. Fleck & F. Andrew Hanssen. 2002. The Origin of Democracy: A Model with Application to Ancient
Greece. Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Bozeman, Montana, US. Page 3.
8 http://www.pengertianpakar.com/2015/02/pengertian-dan-sejarah-demokrasi-di-.html?m=1#_ and already translated in english
by the group 6, accessed (06 May 2015 0:54)
9 http://www.constitution.org./eng/magnacar.htm accesed on 06 May 2015 (01:36)
10 Ibid accessed (06 May 2015 01.15)
Constitutional democracy ( liberal democracy ) which mean the government
has limits in the level of structural and not could have been summarily to
citizens.
Public democracy ( Proletarian democracy ) which mean the government has
not limits to recognize the citizens and these is more concerned with the
interests of the state of in the interest of citizens.11
Principles
The principles of democracy are specified by Sukarna in Winarno (2008: 95)
namely ;12
Separation of powers: the legislative, executive and judicial branches are in
different bodies.
Government under the law : The highest law, Equality before the law , Social
equality
Free elections and political parties is more than one and perform its functions,
namely: Nominate candidates, Fostering public opinion, Attract people to
choose, Criticize the authorities, Select those who will be appointed in the
government, Political education, Choosing political leaders, Blending political
thought, Conduct political socialization, Resolve disputes, Unifying the
government, Accountable government.
Management is open: People's participation in government, Governments
accountable to the people, The support of the people against the government,
Public scrutiny of government, Freedom of expression, Completion split
amicably or compromise, Civil liberties individual.
Principles of the Pancasila democracy13: Equation to entire Indonesia citizen,
Balancing between right and obligation, Implementation the independency
that responsibility to the god, our self and another people, Realize the
flavor of social justice, Deciding making process use Deliberation
11 http://www.artikelsiana.com/2015/03/macam-macam-demokrasi-jenis-pengertian.html#_ accessed ( 1 may 2015. 14.40)
12 Seri sayim. 2013, prinsip-prinsip demokrasi pancasila. http://digilib.unila.ac.id/322/7/BAB%20II.pdf accessed (1 may 2015.
15.20)
13 Ibid
(Musyawarah mufakat), Prioritize an national unity and kinship, Respect
the goals and national aspiration.
The principle of democracy have been prepared in accordance with the values that
grow in the community, although it must be said merely procedural democracy, in the
decision-making process emphasizes voting rather than deliberation, which in essence
is the original principle of democracy in Indonesia. This democratic practice without
based mental state rooted in the noble values of a nation.
Various Kinds of Democracy14:
1. Direct democracy is a democratic system that includes or involve all the
people who carried out directly in the discussion or determine the affairs of
state. Direct democracy was in the days of ancient Greece because at that time
people were still slightly Indirect democracy:
2. Indirect / representative Democracy is the democratic system of decisionmaking that involves people of a country indirectly by channeling his will, the
people elect representatives who had been believed to have served in
parliament as the voice of the people.
Democracy in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the region that encompasses various type of countries. Since SEA countries
gained independence after the war era, the varied experiences of democracy in Southeast Asia
have for the most part been the reflection of will of political personality. At the present time in
21st century, among the 11 SEA countries there are fewer authoritarian regimes than there
were in the 1990s and the noticeable example that we can see is set by Indonesia that shed
three-decades long dictatorship under president Soeharto in 1998 15.
Although now 7 of SEA countries labeled as “partly free” by the freedomhouse, the history of
democracy in SEA is filled with sharp twists and turns, and the path of democracy seldom
runs smooth. But because of the Information and communication technology development ,
14 http://www.artikelsiana.com/2015/03/macam-macam-demokrasi-jenis-pengertian.html#_ accessed (I meay2015. 15.40).
15 Lang, J. (2014). Democracy and Southeast Asia are Not Incompatible Fair Observer. [online] Fair Observer. Available at:
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/southeastasiaanddemocracy53098/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
ideas shared by civil society, and emergence of the international organization enables citizens
to share their concerns, thoughts, and experiences to the governments.
As shown in the picture above that the yellow color indicates the partly free countries
in SEA. Partly Free countries are characterized by some restrictions on political rights and
civil liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife, or civil war.
And the purple colored countries is labeled as Not Free means that the country’s political
rights are absent, and basic civil liberties are widely and systematically denied 16.
Democracy itself in terms of the values maybe different with the western democracy because
16 freedomhouse.org, (2014). Map of Freedom. [online] Available at:
https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/MapofFreedom2014.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
of some indicators like, religion, ethnicity, norms, etc. from the economic side SEA countries
are liberalized and achieved the economic growth. SEA nations favor economic ties and free
market to help their development and in 1967 they established ASEAN. ASEAN aiming to
build interdependence and integration among the countries. Along with the high economic
growth, middle class emerged in 1980s and poverty decreasing thus impact the system
because middle class more likely to reform. As the country liberalized their economy more
and improve from poor to middle income country, they will be more ready for stable
democracy although not all country that liberalized their economy like Singapore is a
democratic county in practice.
Industrialization, Urbanization, Intercommunication
development basically modernization also increased the tendency toward democracy 17.
For SEA countries to join ASEAN don’t have to be democratic country like EU for example.
ASEAN constitutes an important challenge to the ‘democratic peace’ argument, the virtual
absence of war among the ASEAN members since 1967 have been accomplished without the
glue of liberal democracy. ASEAN also has the doctrine of non-interference in the internal
affairs of members and not see communist system in Vietnam as a problems to its
membership18. But ASEAN’s norms of non-interference has been come under attack from
some of its leaders as they struggle with economic crisis. The case of Thailand crisis, Thai
foreign minister, Surin Pitsuan called for ASEAN to review its doctrine thus resulted in Surin
statement ‘when a matter of domestic concern poses a threat to regional stability, a dose of
peer pressure or friendly advice at the right time can be helpful 19.’ So ASEAN now
constructive role in preventing or resolving domestic issues with regional implications.
Among the SEA countries, Indonesia and the Philippines have relatively higher level of
democracy among the region. Singapore and Malaysian democratic transition is continuing
with certain level of soft-authoritarianism and Brunei under Sultan rule since 1963 20. The
democracy discussion in this paper will be focusing on those countries stated above.
17 Edernemunkh, A. (2014). Democracy in Southeast Asia. [online] Academia.edu. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/9485232/Democracy_in_Southeast_Asia [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
18 acharya, a. (1998). Democratising Southeast Asia: Economic Crisis and Political Change. Asia Research Center, [online]
(87), p.43. Available at: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Researchcapabilities/AsiaResearchCentre/_document/working
papers/wp87.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
19 Surin Pushes ‘Peer Pressure’’, The Bangkok Post, 13 June 1998, p.5.
20 FULLER, THOMAS. "The New York Times." 09 17, 2009.
Singapore
Singapore was a British colony in 1819 before it joined the Malaysian federation in 1963 but
was ousted two years later and became independent. Singapore’s government type is Unitary
parliamentary constitutional republic, Singapore’s constitution establishes a representative
democracy as the political system. Executive power rest with the cabinet of Singapore led by
the Prime minister21. Singapore’s ‘dominant one-party system’ – via the People's Action Party
(PAP) - has been termed ‘soft authoritarianism’ and Singapore’s government is well-known
for its post-independence Communitarian ideology which the values support a strong
government because it is an advantage for social progress. Among the SEA countries
Singapore is the least corrupt, you can do business in Singapore without bureaucratic
difficulties like hidden cost and delays. Singapore’s economic under Lee Kuan Yew’s leader
ship develop to success in the clean, intelligent and efficient government. Lee Kuan Yew once
said that “we need a good men to have a good government’. Freedom House labeled
Singapore as partly free and Reporter Without Borders ranked Singapore 140 th of 167
countries in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index.
In terms of the government environment, there are two main opposition parties, the Workers’
Party of Singapore and the Singapore Democratic Party, but the country is a de facto oneparty state, the ruling People’s Action Party having ruled it throughout since 1959. PAP has
held the reins of power for the country’s entire history, and this raise many questions, but
Singapore follows the rules of British parliamentary politics so opposition is legal. It just
doesn't win22. If we look at Singapore as a city rather than country, we will see that is not rare
to find one democratic mayor ruled for a long period of time. Singapore election is considered
honest but not necessarily free and fair because of forces used against the opposition, in terms
of media control and coverage, and use of the law courts to browbeat them 23.
On May 2011 Singapore held an election and for the first time since independence a majority
of Singaporean got to vote, 2011 election is seen as the development of democracy for the
21 Cia.gov, (n.d.). The World Factbook. [online] Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld
factbook/geos/sn.html [Accessed 1 May 2015].
22 Econlog.econlib.org, (2014). Democracy in Singapore: How Is OneParty Rule Possible? | EconLog | Library of
Economics and Liberty. [online] Available at: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/11/democracy_in_si.html [Accessed 1
May 2015].
23 majid, M. (n.d.). Going through the democratic motions in Southeast Asia. [online] Ise.ac.uk. Available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/pdf/SEAPpdf/IP_MunirMajid.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
country which has seen one-party rule for more than half a century, where citizens are locked
away without trial for dissent, and where protests can only occur with a license from the
authorities. Opposition parties like The opposition Workers’ Party, Singapore People’s Party
(SPP), Singapore Democratic party (SDP), etc) was given a chance to do a campaign and send
their representative to run for office. One of the reasons of previous elections is that you can
not run for office if considered bankrupt and this effect on the number of Singaporean willing
to offer themselves as opposition candidates thus securing the PAP position in the country 24.
Prime minister Lee Kuan Yew uses the courts as a legal weapon to intimidate, bankrupt or
cripple the political opposition, and ventilate his political agenda.
Scope of Freedom
Singapore press and media freedom in 2014 remained largely unchanged. Films, television
programs, music, books, and magazines are sometimes censored; all films with a political
purpose are banned unless sponsored by the government. Nearly all print and broadcast media
outlets, internet service providers, and cable television services are owned or controlled by the
state or by companies with close ties to the PAP. The internet is widely accessible, but
authorities monitor online material and block some content through directives to licensed
service providers. All Social Media such as facebook, blog, and similar media are being
watched continuously by the government and everyone that presumed violating the law or the
government will receive sanction, sentencing, and even jail time, a lot of cases occurred, and
the suspect was put in jail.
Actually freedoms of speech and expression are guaranteed by Article 14 of the constitution,
but there are restrictions on these rights. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act, the
Defamation Act, the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows the Government to arbitrarily
arrest citizens and detain them without trial, and articles in the penal code allow the
authorities to block the circulation of news deemed to incite violence, arouse racial or
religious tensions, interfere in domestic politics, or threaten public order, the national interest,
or national security25. Even the foreign press has come under control when it was sued
repeatedly or had their circulation curtailed by the Singapore Government 26. Freedom of
religion is regulated in constitution as long as its practice does not violate any other
24 Juan, C. (2011). Singapore is taking the first steps to true democracy | Chee Soon Juan. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/10/singaporeelectiondemocracynewmedia [Accessed 1 May 2015].
25 Freedomhouse.org, (2014). Singapore | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/singapore#.VULQpCjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
26 Singaporewindow.org, (2014). Reality of the state of democracy in Singapore. [online] Available at: http://www.singapore
window.org/sw03/030916sj.htm [Accessed 1 May 2015].
regulations, and most groups worship freely. All religious groups are required to register with
the government under the 1966 Societies Act to prevent dangerous act and unconventional
religious groups. Women and men have the same legal rights, and both are well-educated
professionals. Eventough is not explicitly written in the constitution, few woman hold a top
position in government and private sector27.
Malaysia
Malaysia believes that democracy should be applied responsibly without jeopardizing racial
harmony which means certain democratic practices, such as freedom of speech, assembly and
the press, should be limited for that purpose. Malaysia’s democracy had many twist and turns
of the democratic path and processes. At the beginning its first PM, Teuku Abdul Rahman was
a true democrat establishing the nation and face the problems in a very democratic way until
racial riots broke out in 1969 that made an impact on democratic practices in the country with
the ‘suspension’ of democracy in Malaysia. The riots perceive as the prove that unrestrained
freedom of expression led to racial animosity. In the years that followed the reintroduction of
democracy in 1971 in a more limited form, the issues that divided the races, such as contested
political rights, religious differences and racially driven socio-economic policies, remained
beneath the surface as they were denied public expression. The year 1981-2003 mark the year
Malaysia tasted economic prosperity as well as tasted a period that saw a diminution of the
political and civil rights in a democracy under the leadership of PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad 28.
Abdullah Badawi replaced Mahathir in October 2003 and change the iron grip on power to be
more liberal, although he was not as successful as Mahathir but he also made many
achievement. With his Barisan Nasional party support he meant business about bringing
change, and made coalition with a major party United Malay National Organization (UMNO)
that in the end couldn’t see eye to eye with Abdullah and led to his failure achieving his
agenda for change such as strengthening the fight against corruption, reviving the judiciary
and reforming the police29.
27 Freedomhouse.org, (2014). Singapore | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
world/2014/singapore#.VUL1pijefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
28 Azizuddin, M. and Bakar, A. (n.d.). Deliberative democracy in Malaysia and Indonesia : the comparison. [online]
jati.um.edu.my. Available at: http://jati.um.edu.my/iconsea2007/download/paper/azizuddinb.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
29 majid, M. (n.d.). Going through the democratic motions in Southeast Asia. [online] Ise.ac.uk.pg.732. Available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/pdf/SEAPpdf/IP_MunirMajid.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
Scope of Freedom
Freedom of expression in Malaysia is constitutionally guaranteed under Article 10 but
restricted in practice. Private print outlets are controlled by parties or business groups allied
with the BN along with the private television stations and generally censor programming
according to government guidelines. Books and films are directly censored or banned for
profanity, violence, and political and religious material. The Malaysian Communication and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC), an agency responsible in part for regulating the internet,
has been known to monitor online content and order outlets or bloggers to remove material it
views as provocative.
Religious freedom is restricted in Malaysia. Ethnic Malays are defined by the constitution as
Muslims, and practicing a version of Islam other than Sunni Islam is prohibited. Muslim
children and civil servants are required to receive religious education using governmentapproved curriculums and instructors. In 2007 the country’s highest court effectively made it
impossible for Muslims to have their conversions to other faiths recognized by the state. NonMuslims are not able to build houses of worship as easily as Muslims, and the state retains the
right to demolish unregistered religious statues and houses of worship 30.
The government restricts academic freedom, teachers or students showing antigovernment
views or engaging in political activity, have long been subject to disciplinary action under the
Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) of 1971. Although the constitution
provides for equal treatment of all citizens, the government maintains an affirmative action
program intended to boost the economic status of ethnic Malays and other indigenous people,
known collectively as bumiputera. Women are underrepresented in politics, the professions,
and the civil service. Violence against women remains a serious problem. Muslim women are
legally disadvantaged because their family grievances are heard in Sharia courts, where men
are favored in matters such as inheritance and divorce 31.
Brunei Darussalam
30 Freedomhouse.org, (2013). Malaysia | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedomworld/2014/malaysia#.VUMRUij-efQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
31 Ibid
Proclamation of Brunei Independence, January 1, 1984: "...Brunei Darussalam is, and with
the blessing of Allah (All Pure, Most Exalted), shall forever be a sovereign, democratic and
independent Malay Muslim Monarchy based upon the teachings of Islam, liberty, trust and
justice.32"
In the proclamation there is a word ‘democracy’ but what is the actual meaning intended by
the proclamation about Brunei’s democracy itself because Brunei type of government is
absolute monarchy with national philosophy known as Malay Islamic Monarchy. The 1959
constitution vested full executive powers in the sultan while providing for five advisory
councils, including a Legislative Council. Brunei Darussalam has been ruled by the same
family for more than 600 years. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah governed under long-standing
emergency powers that placed few limits on his authority and also announced new provisions
to Brunei’s law based on Sharia (Islamic law). The new rules include harsher penalties for a
variety of crimes, including stoning for adultery, limb amputation for theft, flogging for
abortion, and others.
Scope of Freedom
Freedom of expression and belief also very restricted in Brunei, people can speak their
opinion as long as is not an offense to challenge the royal family’s authority or “the standing
or prominence of the national philosophy, the Malay Islamic Monarchy concept. 33”. Under the
amended law, persons found in violation of these offenses, or any publishers, editors, or
proprietors of a newspaper publishing items with seditious intent, face fines of up to
BN$5,000 (US$4,000).
The Sedition Act requires local newspapers to obtain operating licenses and prior government
approval of foreign editorial staff, journalists, and printers. The law also gives the government
the right to bar distribution of foreign publications and requires distributors of foreign
publications to obtain a government permit. The law allows the government to close a
newspaper without giving prior notice or showing cause. In 2013, nearly 65 percent of the
population accessed the internet. Internet access in Brunei is among the most expensive in the
region, however, and internet users often issue complaints about slow speeds and
unreliability. The primary internet service provider is state owned, giving the government a
considerable amount of control over content . The government also monitored private e-mail
32 Pramudya, D. (2007). Brunei redefines democracy. [online] The Brunei Times. Available at:
http://www.bt.com.bn/classification/opinion/2007/03/09/brunei_redefines_democracy [Accessed 1 May 2015].
33 state.gov, (n.d.). Brunei 2013 Human Rights Report. [online] Available at:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/220391.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
and internet chat room exchanges believed to be subversive. An Internet Code of Practice,
included in a 2001 press law, makes individuals as well as content and service providers liable
for publishing anything that is “against the public interest or national harmony or which
offends against good taste or decency.” Violation of the code is punishable by up to two years
of imprisonment and a BN$20,000 fine34.
Brunei Darussalam is a Muslim country with approximately 67 percent of the population is
Muslim, followed by 13 percent Buddhist, and 10 percent Christian (approximately half of
whom are Catholic). The constitution allows for the practice of religions other than the
official Sunni Islam, but proselytizing by non-Muslims is prohibited like Malaysia. Marriage
between Muslims and non-Muslims is not allowed. Muslims require permission from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs to convert to other faiths, though official and societal pressures
make conversion nearly impossible. In July 2013, the government enacted regulations
banning non-Muslims from eating in Muslim-owned restaurants and eateries during
Ramadan. Islamic law generally places women at a disadvantage in cases of divorce and
inheritance. All women in government-run institutions and schools are required or pressured
to wear traditional Muslim head coverings.
Brunei’s many “stateless” people, mostly longtime ethnic Chinese residents, are denied the
full rights and benefits of citizens, while migrant workers, who comprise approximately one
quarter of the workforce, are largely unprotected by labor laws and vulnerable to exploitation.
Workers who overstay visas are regularly imprisoned and, in some cases, caned or whipped 35.
The Philippines
The Philippines has a democratic government in the form of a constitutional republic with a
presidential system. Since the 1946 independence from the US, the Philippines persisted as an
oligarchic democracy though civil society has grown strong. The reality in the Philippines
political culture is shaped by its colonial legacy embedded elite control over government
policy. The Marcos dictatorship, which ended after the 1986 EDSA Revolution, oversaw
long-term economic decline, uncontrolled population growth, and a huge explosion of public
debt. The Benigno Aquino administration, which came to power in 2010 on a strong anti34 Freedomhouse.org, (2013). Brunei | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/brunei#.VUMk6SjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
35
Ibid
corruption agenda, has ushered in several years of unprecedented economic boom and
political stability however, the Aquino administration has suffered from declining popularity,
which has been exacerbated by an ongoing skirmish between the executive and the judiciary
branches of the government36.
Elections in The Philippines eventhough open and competitive, elections in the Philippines
are typically marred by fraud, intimidation, and political violence, though conditions have
improved in recent years. Other problems included media bias, which tends to favor wealthier
candidates, and vote buying. The Philippines has a multiparty system means that the political
participation is considered high although Political parties typically have weak ideological
identities and the parties coalition changes every time.
Scope of Freedom
The constitution provides for freedoms of expression and the press and the private media are
vibrant and outspoken, although content often consists more of innuendo and sensationalism
than substantive investigative reporting. Media cover controversial topics and criticize the
government, but they too lack strict journalistic ethics. While the censorship board has broad
powers to edit or ban content, government censorship is generally not a serious problem in
practice. There are no restrictive licensing requirements for newspapers or journalists, and
few legal limitations such as privacy or obscenity laws. The year 2013 saw a noticeable
increase in the number of violent attacks on journalists, including several killings, as well as a
jump in harassment, threats, and legal action against members of the media 37.
The internet is widely available in the Philippines and Freedom of religion is guaranteed
under the constitution and generally respected in practice. Academic freedom is also generally
respected The UN Development Programme has found the Philippines to be one of the few
countries in Asia to have significantly closed the gender gap in the areas of health and
education. A 2009 law included provisions calling for women to fill half of third-level
government positions, requiring that each barangay be equipped with a “violence against
women” desk, and recognizing women’s rights as human rights. Despite these measures,
enforcement has been uneven. Violence against women continues to be a significant problem,
36 Heydarian, R. (2014). Indonesia and the Philippines: A tale of two democracies. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/08/indonesiaphilippinestaletwo2014830124252647374.html [Accessed 1
May 2015].
37 Freedomhouse.org, (2015). Philippines | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/philippines#.VUNF9SjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
and while marital rape is a crime, extremely few cases are prosecuted 38.
DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA
Indonesia is one of the biggest and most populous country among the Southeast Asia region
and labeled by The New York Times as Southeast Asia’s “ role model for democracy”.
Continuation of the success of democratic transition in Indonesia is good news for the region
and the world. Indonesia emerge on the world stage as a strong economy and with a
confidence that restored coherence and direction to ASEAN’s regional centrality, but before
we go any further discussing Indonesia’s democracy and what is the condition of Indonesia’s
democracy, first we have to know Indonesia’s type of government and political system.
Indonesia conducts a type of governance that is a multiparty presidential republic that is
democratic. As in other democratic countries, the Indonesian political system is based on the
Trias Politica that recognizes the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The legislative power is vested in the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) that consists of
two houses namely the House of Representatives (DPR) – composed of representatives of
political parties, and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) – composed of
representatives from each province in Indonesia 39.
Democracy in Indonesia did not go without changes throughout the 65 year since gained
Independence. Democracy Indonesia is different from western democracy as Moh. Hatta one
of Indonesia’s founding father used the term kerakyatan to differ from a more individualistic
western style. Indonesia uses democracy in politic, economy, and social field. In terms of
politics there are no much different with the western style but all aspects (politic, economy ,
and social) lean on values consisted in Pancasila, and that was why Indonesia’s democracy
also known as Pancasila Democracy which means that the highest authority vested in the
hand of the people which in practices , embedded by the Pancasila values. Pancasila was
designed as a statement of universal values, brilliantly couched by Sukarno in indigenous
terms, upon which all Indonesians could agree.
Pancasila
March 1 1945 the Investigating Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence,
which task related to ideology, was to establish a dasar negara (philosophical basis of the
38
39
Ibid
Kbritashkent.go.id,. Politics and Government | The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. Retrieved 3 May 2015, from
http://www.kbritashkent.go.id/?page_id=61
state) to be included in the new constitution. There were some ideological debate in the
committee, those who wished to establish Islam as the basis of the state, those who sought to
establish a secular, constitutional democracy, and those who advocated what became known
as a Negara integralistik (an “integralistic state”). On June 1, 1945 in a now-famous speech
known as “Lahirnya Pancasila”, speech that summarized the ideological debate at the time.
Pancasila consists of the following five principles which are included in the Preamble to the
Indonesian Constitution of 1945: belief in God, a just and civilized humanitarianism, national
unity, Indonesian democracy through consultation and consensus, and social justice. The
debates continues after 1945 for 3 years until In 1959 Sukarno, dissolved the Konstituante
and decreed the original Constitution of August 18, 1945 to be the sole legal constitution of
Indonesia
Period in Indonesia’s Democracy
Mirriam Budiardjo (2008:127-128) stated from the history point of view, democracy in
Indonesia until the New Order era can be divided into 4 era which is 40 :
1. Constitutional Democracy (1945-1959)
Constitutional democracy featured the role of the parliament and political
parties and thus it’s also called Parliament Democracy. During the
revolutionary period of independence (1945-1959) , the implementation of a
new democracy is limited to political interaction in parliament and the press,
function as supporters of the revolution. At that time the government was busy
to fight to preserve the independence of the newly proclaimed
2. Guided Democracy (1959 – 1965)
In this period there were many aspect that diverged from the constitutional democracy
which showed few aspect on people’s democracy. Guided democracy was a period in
which democracy is understood and executed great revolutionary leader based
policies in this regard the president Soekarno, a period of intense three-way political
maneuvering between Sukarno, the armed forces, and the PKI. Learning that the
attempt of party politics in the 1950s brought nothing but political instability and gave
40
academia.edu, (2015). DEMOKRASI INDONESIA dari Pdf. [online] Available at: academia.edu,. DEMOKRASI
INDONESIA dari Pdf. Retrieved 3 May 2015, from http://www.academia.edu/7014074/DEMOKRASI_INDONESIAdari_pdf
[Accessed 3 May 2015].
rise to local insurgencies, Soekarno threw away the idea of parliamentary democracy,
Sukarno put forward the idea of democracy that suits the personality of the nation . In
an attempt to ideologically balance the contending forces of Islam, nationalism, and
communism at that time , Sukarno advocated not just Pancasila, but also a concept
known as “NASAKOM.” NASAKOM referred to a forced unity of nationalism,
religion, and communism.
3. Pancasila Democracy ( 1965 – 1998 )
Pancasila democracy era also known as the constitutional democracy that featured
presidential system41. This is also the era which Seoharto became president replacing
Seokarno.
A significant
feature
of
the
Soeharto
regime
was
thorough
institutionalization of an authoritarian rule with ‘development’ as the national
ideology. The Soeharto government enacted five political law, first on the
parliamentary system which in Seokarno time restricted, to make the parliament
function as a regime-stabilizing device, the Mass Organization Law that made it
mandatory for all organizations to accept Pancasila as the only principle, and the
National Referendum Law that in practice foreclosed the possibility of amending the
1945 Constitution. Freedom of speech is very limited and controlled by the
government42. The Soeharto government collapsed on 21 May 1998.
4. The fourth period of the Republic of Indonesia (1998 – 2004 ) is a period of
reform which wanted the establishment of democracy in Indonesia as a
correction to the political practices that occurred in the third period (New
Order era) of the Republic of Indonesia . under the new political laws, a free
general election was carried out and Indonesia’s president was elected for the
first time by vote at the newly organized MPR in October 1999. With these
events, it can be judged that Indonesia shifted from authoritarian system to
democratic system. In the democratization process Indonesia preferred to
41
“Presidential system means the President of Indonesia is both head of state and head of government”
42 repository.usu.ac.id,. perkembangan demokrasi di indonesia yang dituangkan dalam unjuk rasa ( demonstrasi ) sebagai hak
dalam mengemukakan pendapat. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from http://repository.usu.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/26176/3/Chapter
%20II.pdf
maintain the 1945 Constitution and adapt it by amendments rather than
making a new constitution like the Philippines and Thailand.
5. Electoral Democracy (2004 – now)
Since 2004 Indonesia uses Direct elections where candidate for president is directly
elected by the people not MPR resulted in the winning of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono. In 2004 the central government enacted a new law on regional
administration (Law No. 32/2004). In addition to clarifying local government powers,
this law introduced for the first time direct elections for heads of local government—
provincial governors , district heads, and town mayors. Direct elections for heads of
local government began in 2005, one year after Indonesia held its first direct
presidential election43.
Indonesia has many ethnicity, cultures, and social conditions (pluralism) that influence the
many difference way of people thinking and make decisions, pluralism is also the threat to the
development of democracy itself because political tensions, ideology and religion differences,
also the individual sense of being belong to particular ethnic. Democracy in Indonesia is more
or less perceived to be based on the political culture of the majority.
Scope of Freedom
The right to organize political parties is respected in Indonesia, though in recent years the
election laws have been amended to favor large parties by restricting eligibility for parties to
run for parliament or to field a presidential candidate.
In terms of media freedom, Indonesia hosts a vibrant and diverse media environment, though
press freedom is hampered by a number of legal and regulatory restrictions also foreign
journalists are not authorized to travel to the restive provinces of Papua and West Papua
without special permission. In addition, treason and blasphemy laws are routinely used to
limit freedom of expression by minority groups and separatists. Censorship and selfcensorship of books and films for allegedly obscene or blasphemous content are fairly
common.
The 2008 Law on Electronic Information and Transactions made restrictions to the internet
and online media, criminalizing the distribution or accessibility of information or documents
that are “contrary to the moral norms of Indonesia” or related to gambling, blackmail, or
43 Hillman, B. Electoral Governance and Democratic Consolidation in Indonesia. crawford.edu. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from
https://crawford.anu.edu.au/pdf/staff/ben_hillman/2013/ElectoralGovernanceandDemocraticConsolidationinIndonesia.pdf
defamation.
Indonesia officially recognizes Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Confucianism. Individuals have the option of leaving the religion section of
their national identity cards blank, but those who do face discrimination. Atheism is not
accepted, and the criminal code contains provisions against blasphemy, penalizing those who
“distort” or “misrepresent” official faiths. Freedom of travel and choice of residence,
employment, and higher education are generally respected although corruption still affects
businesses’ daily operations and routine interactions with the state bureaucracy.
Indonesia allowed for civil society organizations to be active, but some human rights groups
are subject to government monitoring and interference. Organizations cannot commit
blasphemy or advocate non-Pancasila ideologies, including Marxism-Leninism, atheism, and
communism. Discrimination against women persists, particularly in the workplace. A 2008
law states that 30 percent of a political party’s candidates and board members must be
women. Abortion is illegal except to save a woman’s life or in instances of rape; a regulation
that came into effect in August 2014 requires that abortion in the case of rape must take place
within 40 days44.
The Current Condition of Democracy in Indonesia
Indonesia has been using pancasila democracy as the values of the country, but now the
democracy values is questioned to whether or not still applied well in running Indonesia.
Under the leadership of president Joko Widodo, government is setting the stage for a longterm battle over the future of democracy in Southeast Asia’s most populous country.
Election Bill Issue
After the defeat of Prabowo, his “Red and White Coalition” continues to exert its influence
thus resulted in raising a notion of amending the Indonesian Constitution to eliminate direct
elections of local leaders and giving the power to appoint back to a legislative body that
Suharto had firmly controlled and used to perpetuate his hold on power. Proponents of the bill
cite that since 2004, about 300 local leaders elected through direct elections have been proven
to be corrupt or run into problems with the law. Rather than combating the corruption itself,
the bill’s proponents claim the election method is the problem. In their distrust in people’s
capacity to elect good leaders, they favor instead the dubious assumption that legislative
councils would do better at choosing clean leaders. 45 Led by Mr. Prabowo’s Gerindra party,
44
Freedomhouse.org. Indonesia | Freedom House. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
world/2015/indonesia#.VUbiYyjefQ
45 Cochrane, J. (2014). In Indonesia, Stage Is Set for Battle Over Future of Democracy. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 4 May 2015,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/asia/indonesia-joko-widodo-parliament-opposition.html?_r=0
the opposition bloc includes Golkar, which was Suharto’s political vehicle during his rule, and
four other parties that backed Mr. Prabowo’s presidential run.
Indonesians began directly electing their presidents in 2004 and provincial-level leaders in
2005, Direct elections, part of the decentralisation measures implemented after the fall of
dictator Suharto in 1998, have been credited with producing a handful of promising new
leaders unconnected to the old elite, including Jokowi, who beat a former general in the
election in July, many saw Joko’s ultimate victory as the triumph of new politics over the old
military establishment . Many presume that changes Prabowo is trying to do is to bring us
back to Seoharto Era which mean our democracy has been challenged 46.
Joko Widodo, and his party PDIP try to fight the notion made by the opposition but the
number of seats belong to the red and white coalition make it difficult to do so, because even
if PDIP won the election the opposition held more power in the parliament. Aleksius Jemadu,
the dean of political sciences at Pelita Harapan University in Jakarta, said the bill reflected a
new development in Indonesian democracy, one where the parliament “can do anything they
want now because they control the majority and no one can stop them” 47.
The Fears have emerged for Indonesia’s democracy after its parliament voted to abolish the
direct election of local leaders, in which credited for helping president-elect Joko Widodo’s
rise to popularity as a mayor and governor before he won July’s national election and known
to be the first elected president with no direct ties to the old political and military
establishment. Citing a recent poll by the Indonesian Survey Circle that showed more than
80% of Indonesians opposed the bill48.
There is also many public opinion blaming the Democratic Party particularly SBY because
the party walked out on the proceedings resulting in the bill passed, but SBY claimed to be
away n the US at the time of the vote and He said his party was preparing a lawsuit to
challenge the bill and would seek recourse at the constitutional or supreme court but there was
mix comment about SBY act because SBY could stop the bill even before it was established 49.
In the mid of people’s opinion blaming SBY, he stated that he was against the indirect
election and will make few decrees (Perpu) to abolish the bill. First he must sign the
bill allowing it to pass then he made a decree to reject the Election Bill , then for a
46 Ibid
47 Lamb, K. (2014). Indonesia’s scrapping of direct elections raises fears for democracy. the Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2015,
from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/26/indonesia-scraps-direct-elections-democracy-fears
48 Ibid
49 Aria Danaparamita, T. (2014). An Elegy to Indonesian Democracy. The Diplomat. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from
http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/an-elegy-to-indonesian-democracy/
while Law on Indirect elections can not be enfo
Group Assignment on
Democracy
Lecturer: Aswin Ariyanto Azis, S.IP., M.DevSt
By:
HI English Class I-5
Group: Indonesia & Timor Leste
Arif Dwijatmiko
Yoska Rini Dhara Anindhita
Azib Muhammad B
( 135120407121007)
( 135120407121029)
( 135120407121040)
Department of International Relations
Faculty of Social and Political Science
Brawijaya University
2015
1
Table of Contents
The Definition of Democracy and the History......................................2
Type........................................................................................4
Principles..................................................................................4
Various Kinds of Democracy:.............................................................5
Democracy in Southeast Asia.......................................................5
Singapore..............................................................................8
Scope of Freedom...................................................................................... 9
Malaysia.............................................................................10
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 11
Brunei Darussalam..................................................................12
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 12
The Philippines......................................................................14
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 14
DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA..................................................15
Period in Indonesia’s Democracy.......................................................17
Scope of Freedom.................................................................................... 19
The Current Condition of Democracy in Indonesia...................................20
Election Bill Issue.................................................................................... 20
Bibliography.......................................................................23
2
DEMOCRACY
The Definition of Democracy and the History
Democracy is a sentence that taken from the Greek, "demos" means "person," and “kratos”
means “power” that is likened to a system that is running the government as democratic, the
government remains committed to the people, because the purpose of government is in the
interests of the people1. Quoting from the words of the first President of the United States,
Abraham Lincoln, democracy is government by the people, of the people, and for the people 2.
Individual freedom in political participation is the goal of a human right. A goal can indeed
make people directly involved in the running of a government of a country. In politics, the
real democracy cannot be run without the existence of a system of government that is in
power3, and which is divided into three parts, namely, the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches. So that the people should be a lifesaver on his own political freedom, since the
passage of the system of government is determined by the community share. Democracy itself
emerged as a form of uncertainty as to the role of society in government, and the resistance
against the dictatorial government action4.
There are three concept that support tems through the principle of democracy, ie 5:
1. Democracy as a process
It means that the democracy based on the supplying the technical of political
elections, such as mechanism, procedures, and condition that to formalities.
2. Democrazy as a stablization of state and conditions
It means that democracy is purpose to emerge the democratic situation. The citizen
and the governance likely support each other to activate the democracy in the country.
1 Written on Democracy in Brief. Bureau of International Information Programs. U.S Department of State. Page-1.
2 Ibid. Page 2.
3 Cherif Bassiouni.1998. Democracy: Its Principles and Achievement. Geneva: The Inter-Parliamentary Union. Page 4.
4 Noor Ms Bakry. 2009. Pendidikan Kewarganegaraan. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar. Page 1
5 Cherif Bassiouni.1998. Democracy: Its Principles and Achievement. Geneva: The Inter-Parliamentary Union. Page 5
3. Democrazy as a outcome
It means that the effect of the domocracy ways, implied that the result of the
governance maybe successful, maybe not successful, depend on how the govenrment
has been conducted.
Democracy has existed since ancient Greek times at 4-6 Before Century, the people at that
time felt that the role of the public can voice their opinions since the city-state, where the area
is divided into several sections so that people can focus on giving an opinion on governance
in ancient Greece6, and finding that differences in the extent of democracy between Athens
and Sparta, finally Athens is the best democracies in Greece 7.
But, someting unique that happen in Greece, only the officially citizenship can support the
democracy, not require to slave, children, and women. Democacies governmental era in
ancient Greece was stopped when the peoples change to being feodalism, and centralization
governmental system for Paus8. The democracy emerged in Europe when the middle-century
become end, and signed when Magna Charta is born. Magna Charta9 is established in 1215,
that explain about the limitation of King’s authorization between the Kingdom and the
Civilians (under the Human Rights) in United Kingdom.
Democracies happen in Europe based on reformaton and enlightment era. Church as the main
controller and the most influenced sector, being destroyed by the democracy itself in 16
Century10, and called Religion reformation. The liberty of political responsibility is include
the human rights, ownership righst, and voters act (John Locke). And mostly the western
democration is based on ancient Greek and continuely by the reformation in Europe, finally
the democratic thinker is shared to all of the world.
Type
According to the based principles of ideology, democracy can be distinguished into:
6 Ibid. Page 2
7 Paper of Robert K. Fleck & F. Andrew Hanssen. 2002. The Origin of Democracy: A Model with Application to Ancient
Greece. Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics, Bozeman, Montana, US. Page 3.
8 http://www.pengertianpakar.com/2015/02/pengertian-dan-sejarah-demokrasi-di-.html?m=1#_ and already translated in english
by the group 6, accessed (06 May 2015 0:54)
9 http://www.constitution.org./eng/magnacar.htm accesed on 06 May 2015 (01:36)
10 Ibid accessed (06 May 2015 01.15)
Constitutional democracy ( liberal democracy ) which mean the government
has limits in the level of structural and not could have been summarily to
citizens.
Public democracy ( Proletarian democracy ) which mean the government has
not limits to recognize the citizens and these is more concerned with the
interests of the state of in the interest of citizens.11
Principles
The principles of democracy are specified by Sukarna in Winarno (2008: 95)
namely ;12
Separation of powers: the legislative, executive and judicial branches are in
different bodies.
Government under the law : The highest law, Equality before the law , Social
equality
Free elections and political parties is more than one and perform its functions,
namely: Nominate candidates, Fostering public opinion, Attract people to
choose, Criticize the authorities, Select those who will be appointed in the
government, Political education, Choosing political leaders, Blending political
thought, Conduct political socialization, Resolve disputes, Unifying the
government, Accountable government.
Management is open: People's participation in government, Governments
accountable to the people, The support of the people against the government,
Public scrutiny of government, Freedom of expression, Completion split
amicably or compromise, Civil liberties individual.
Principles of the Pancasila democracy13: Equation to entire Indonesia citizen,
Balancing between right and obligation, Implementation the independency
that responsibility to the god, our self and another people, Realize the
flavor of social justice, Deciding making process use Deliberation
11 http://www.artikelsiana.com/2015/03/macam-macam-demokrasi-jenis-pengertian.html#_ accessed ( 1 may 2015. 14.40)
12 Seri sayim. 2013, prinsip-prinsip demokrasi pancasila. http://digilib.unila.ac.id/322/7/BAB%20II.pdf accessed (1 may 2015.
15.20)
13 Ibid
(Musyawarah mufakat), Prioritize an national unity and kinship, Respect
the goals and national aspiration.
The principle of democracy have been prepared in accordance with the values that
grow in the community, although it must be said merely procedural democracy, in the
decision-making process emphasizes voting rather than deliberation, which in essence
is the original principle of democracy in Indonesia. This democratic practice without
based mental state rooted in the noble values of a nation.
Various Kinds of Democracy14:
1. Direct democracy is a democratic system that includes or involve all the
people who carried out directly in the discussion or determine the affairs of
state. Direct democracy was in the days of ancient Greece because at that time
people were still slightly Indirect democracy:
2. Indirect / representative Democracy is the democratic system of decisionmaking that involves people of a country indirectly by channeling his will, the
people elect representatives who had been believed to have served in
parliament as the voice of the people.
Democracy in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the region that encompasses various type of countries. Since SEA countries
gained independence after the war era, the varied experiences of democracy in Southeast Asia
have for the most part been the reflection of will of political personality. At the present time in
21st century, among the 11 SEA countries there are fewer authoritarian regimes than there
were in the 1990s and the noticeable example that we can see is set by Indonesia that shed
three-decades long dictatorship under president Soeharto in 1998 15.
Although now 7 of SEA countries labeled as “partly free” by the freedomhouse, the history of
democracy in SEA is filled with sharp twists and turns, and the path of democracy seldom
runs smooth. But because of the Information and communication technology development ,
14 http://www.artikelsiana.com/2015/03/macam-macam-demokrasi-jenis-pengertian.html#_ accessed (I meay2015. 15.40).
15 Lang, J. (2014). Democracy and Southeast Asia are Not Incompatible Fair Observer. [online] Fair Observer. Available at:
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/asia_pacific/southeastasiaanddemocracy53098/ [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
ideas shared by civil society, and emergence of the international organization enables citizens
to share their concerns, thoughts, and experiences to the governments.
As shown in the picture above that the yellow color indicates the partly free countries
in SEA. Partly Free countries are characterized by some restrictions on political rights and
civil liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife, or civil war.
And the purple colored countries is labeled as Not Free means that the country’s political
rights are absent, and basic civil liberties are widely and systematically denied 16.
Democracy itself in terms of the values maybe different with the western democracy because
16 freedomhouse.org, (2014). Map of Freedom. [online] Available at:
https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/MapofFreedom2014.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
of some indicators like, religion, ethnicity, norms, etc. from the economic side SEA countries
are liberalized and achieved the economic growth. SEA nations favor economic ties and free
market to help their development and in 1967 they established ASEAN. ASEAN aiming to
build interdependence and integration among the countries. Along with the high economic
growth, middle class emerged in 1980s and poverty decreasing thus impact the system
because middle class more likely to reform. As the country liberalized their economy more
and improve from poor to middle income country, they will be more ready for stable
democracy although not all country that liberalized their economy like Singapore is a
democratic county in practice.
Industrialization, Urbanization, Intercommunication
development basically modernization also increased the tendency toward democracy 17.
For SEA countries to join ASEAN don’t have to be democratic country like EU for example.
ASEAN constitutes an important challenge to the ‘democratic peace’ argument, the virtual
absence of war among the ASEAN members since 1967 have been accomplished without the
glue of liberal democracy. ASEAN also has the doctrine of non-interference in the internal
affairs of members and not see communist system in Vietnam as a problems to its
membership18. But ASEAN’s norms of non-interference has been come under attack from
some of its leaders as they struggle with economic crisis. The case of Thailand crisis, Thai
foreign minister, Surin Pitsuan called for ASEAN to review its doctrine thus resulted in Surin
statement ‘when a matter of domestic concern poses a threat to regional stability, a dose of
peer pressure or friendly advice at the right time can be helpful 19.’ So ASEAN now
constructive role in preventing or resolving domestic issues with regional implications.
Among the SEA countries, Indonesia and the Philippines have relatively higher level of
democracy among the region. Singapore and Malaysian democratic transition is continuing
with certain level of soft-authoritarianism and Brunei under Sultan rule since 1963 20. The
democracy discussion in this paper will be focusing on those countries stated above.
17 Edernemunkh, A. (2014). Democracy in Southeast Asia. [online] Academia.edu. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/9485232/Democracy_in_Southeast_Asia [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
18 acharya, a. (1998). Democratising Southeast Asia: Economic Crisis and Political Change. Asia Research Center, [online]
(87), p.43. Available at: http://www.murdoch.edu.au/Researchcapabilities/AsiaResearchCentre/_document/working
papers/wp87.pdf [Accessed 30 Apr. 2015].
19 Surin Pushes ‘Peer Pressure’’, The Bangkok Post, 13 June 1998, p.5.
20 FULLER, THOMAS. "The New York Times." 09 17, 2009.
Singapore
Singapore was a British colony in 1819 before it joined the Malaysian federation in 1963 but
was ousted two years later and became independent. Singapore’s government type is Unitary
parliamentary constitutional republic, Singapore’s constitution establishes a representative
democracy as the political system. Executive power rest with the cabinet of Singapore led by
the Prime minister21. Singapore’s ‘dominant one-party system’ – via the People's Action Party
(PAP) - has been termed ‘soft authoritarianism’ and Singapore’s government is well-known
for its post-independence Communitarian ideology which the values support a strong
government because it is an advantage for social progress. Among the SEA countries
Singapore is the least corrupt, you can do business in Singapore without bureaucratic
difficulties like hidden cost and delays. Singapore’s economic under Lee Kuan Yew’s leader
ship develop to success in the clean, intelligent and efficient government. Lee Kuan Yew once
said that “we need a good men to have a good government’. Freedom House labeled
Singapore as partly free and Reporter Without Borders ranked Singapore 140 th of 167
countries in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index.
In terms of the government environment, there are two main opposition parties, the Workers’
Party of Singapore and the Singapore Democratic Party, but the country is a de facto oneparty state, the ruling People’s Action Party having ruled it throughout since 1959. PAP has
held the reins of power for the country’s entire history, and this raise many questions, but
Singapore follows the rules of British parliamentary politics so opposition is legal. It just
doesn't win22. If we look at Singapore as a city rather than country, we will see that is not rare
to find one democratic mayor ruled for a long period of time. Singapore election is considered
honest but not necessarily free and fair because of forces used against the opposition, in terms
of media control and coverage, and use of the law courts to browbeat them 23.
On May 2011 Singapore held an election and for the first time since independence a majority
of Singaporean got to vote, 2011 election is seen as the development of democracy for the
21 Cia.gov, (n.d.). The World Factbook. [online] Available at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld
factbook/geos/sn.html [Accessed 1 May 2015].
22 Econlog.econlib.org, (2014). Democracy in Singapore: How Is OneParty Rule Possible? | EconLog | Library of
Economics and Liberty. [online] Available at: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/11/democracy_in_si.html [Accessed 1
May 2015].
23 majid, M. (n.d.). Going through the democratic motions in Southeast Asia. [online] Ise.ac.uk. Available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/pdf/SEAPpdf/IP_MunirMajid.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
country which has seen one-party rule for more than half a century, where citizens are locked
away without trial for dissent, and where protests can only occur with a license from the
authorities. Opposition parties like The opposition Workers’ Party, Singapore People’s Party
(SPP), Singapore Democratic party (SDP), etc) was given a chance to do a campaign and send
their representative to run for office. One of the reasons of previous elections is that you can
not run for office if considered bankrupt and this effect on the number of Singaporean willing
to offer themselves as opposition candidates thus securing the PAP position in the country 24.
Prime minister Lee Kuan Yew uses the courts as a legal weapon to intimidate, bankrupt or
cripple the political opposition, and ventilate his political agenda.
Scope of Freedom
Singapore press and media freedom in 2014 remained largely unchanged. Films, television
programs, music, books, and magazines are sometimes censored; all films with a political
purpose are banned unless sponsored by the government. Nearly all print and broadcast media
outlets, internet service providers, and cable television services are owned or controlled by the
state or by companies with close ties to the PAP. The internet is widely accessible, but
authorities monitor online material and block some content through directives to licensed
service providers. All Social Media such as facebook, blog, and similar media are being
watched continuously by the government and everyone that presumed violating the law or the
government will receive sanction, sentencing, and even jail time, a lot of cases occurred, and
the suspect was put in jail.
Actually freedoms of speech and expression are guaranteed by Article 14 of the constitution,
but there are restrictions on these rights. The Newspapers and Printing Presses Act, the
Defamation Act, the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows the Government to arbitrarily
arrest citizens and detain them without trial, and articles in the penal code allow the
authorities to block the circulation of news deemed to incite violence, arouse racial or
religious tensions, interfere in domestic politics, or threaten public order, the national interest,
or national security25. Even the foreign press has come under control when it was sued
repeatedly or had their circulation curtailed by the Singapore Government 26. Freedom of
religion is regulated in constitution as long as its practice does not violate any other
24 Juan, C. (2011). Singapore is taking the first steps to true democracy | Chee Soon Juan. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/may/10/singaporeelectiondemocracynewmedia [Accessed 1 May 2015].
25 Freedomhouse.org, (2014). Singapore | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/singapore#.VULQpCjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
26 Singaporewindow.org, (2014). Reality of the state of democracy in Singapore. [online] Available at: http://www.singapore
window.org/sw03/030916sj.htm [Accessed 1 May 2015].
regulations, and most groups worship freely. All religious groups are required to register with
the government under the 1966 Societies Act to prevent dangerous act and unconventional
religious groups. Women and men have the same legal rights, and both are well-educated
professionals. Eventough is not explicitly written in the constitution, few woman hold a top
position in government and private sector27.
Malaysia
Malaysia believes that democracy should be applied responsibly without jeopardizing racial
harmony which means certain democratic practices, such as freedom of speech, assembly and
the press, should be limited for that purpose. Malaysia’s democracy had many twist and turns
of the democratic path and processes. At the beginning its first PM, Teuku Abdul Rahman was
a true democrat establishing the nation and face the problems in a very democratic way until
racial riots broke out in 1969 that made an impact on democratic practices in the country with
the ‘suspension’ of democracy in Malaysia. The riots perceive as the prove that unrestrained
freedom of expression led to racial animosity. In the years that followed the reintroduction of
democracy in 1971 in a more limited form, the issues that divided the races, such as contested
political rights, religious differences and racially driven socio-economic policies, remained
beneath the surface as they were denied public expression. The year 1981-2003 mark the year
Malaysia tasted economic prosperity as well as tasted a period that saw a diminution of the
political and civil rights in a democracy under the leadership of PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad 28.
Abdullah Badawi replaced Mahathir in October 2003 and change the iron grip on power to be
more liberal, although he was not as successful as Mahathir but he also made many
achievement. With his Barisan Nasional party support he meant business about bringing
change, and made coalition with a major party United Malay National Organization (UMNO)
that in the end couldn’t see eye to eye with Abdullah and led to his failure achieving his
agenda for change such as strengthening the fight against corruption, reviving the judiciary
and reforming the police29.
27 Freedomhouse.org, (2014). Singapore | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
world/2014/singapore#.VUL1pijefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
28 Azizuddin, M. and Bakar, A. (n.d.). Deliberative democracy in Malaysia and Indonesia : the comparison. [online]
jati.um.edu.my. Available at: http://jati.um.edu.my/iconsea2007/download/paper/azizuddinb.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
29 majid, M. (n.d.). Going through the democratic motions in Southeast Asia. [online] Ise.ac.uk.pg.732. Available at:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/IDEAS/pdf/SEAPpdf/IP_MunirMajid.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
Scope of Freedom
Freedom of expression in Malaysia is constitutionally guaranteed under Article 10 but
restricted in practice. Private print outlets are controlled by parties or business groups allied
with the BN along with the private television stations and generally censor programming
according to government guidelines. Books and films are directly censored or banned for
profanity, violence, and political and religious material. The Malaysian Communication and
Multimedia Commission (MCMC), an agency responsible in part for regulating the internet,
has been known to monitor online content and order outlets or bloggers to remove material it
views as provocative.
Religious freedom is restricted in Malaysia. Ethnic Malays are defined by the constitution as
Muslims, and practicing a version of Islam other than Sunni Islam is prohibited. Muslim
children and civil servants are required to receive religious education using governmentapproved curriculums and instructors. In 2007 the country’s highest court effectively made it
impossible for Muslims to have their conversions to other faiths recognized by the state. NonMuslims are not able to build houses of worship as easily as Muslims, and the state retains the
right to demolish unregistered religious statues and houses of worship 30.
The government restricts academic freedom, teachers or students showing antigovernment
views or engaging in political activity, have long been subject to disciplinary action under the
Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) of 1971. Although the constitution
provides for equal treatment of all citizens, the government maintains an affirmative action
program intended to boost the economic status of ethnic Malays and other indigenous people,
known collectively as bumiputera. Women are underrepresented in politics, the professions,
and the civil service. Violence against women remains a serious problem. Muslim women are
legally disadvantaged because their family grievances are heard in Sharia courts, where men
are favored in matters such as inheritance and divorce 31.
Brunei Darussalam
30 Freedomhouse.org, (2013). Malaysia | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedomworld/2014/malaysia#.VUMRUij-efQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
31 Ibid
Proclamation of Brunei Independence, January 1, 1984: "...Brunei Darussalam is, and with
the blessing of Allah (All Pure, Most Exalted), shall forever be a sovereign, democratic and
independent Malay Muslim Monarchy based upon the teachings of Islam, liberty, trust and
justice.32"
In the proclamation there is a word ‘democracy’ but what is the actual meaning intended by
the proclamation about Brunei’s democracy itself because Brunei type of government is
absolute monarchy with national philosophy known as Malay Islamic Monarchy. The 1959
constitution vested full executive powers in the sultan while providing for five advisory
councils, including a Legislative Council. Brunei Darussalam has been ruled by the same
family for more than 600 years. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah governed under long-standing
emergency powers that placed few limits on his authority and also announced new provisions
to Brunei’s law based on Sharia (Islamic law). The new rules include harsher penalties for a
variety of crimes, including stoning for adultery, limb amputation for theft, flogging for
abortion, and others.
Scope of Freedom
Freedom of expression and belief also very restricted in Brunei, people can speak their
opinion as long as is not an offense to challenge the royal family’s authority or “the standing
or prominence of the national philosophy, the Malay Islamic Monarchy concept. 33”. Under the
amended law, persons found in violation of these offenses, or any publishers, editors, or
proprietors of a newspaper publishing items with seditious intent, face fines of up to
BN$5,000 (US$4,000).
The Sedition Act requires local newspapers to obtain operating licenses and prior government
approval of foreign editorial staff, journalists, and printers. The law also gives the government
the right to bar distribution of foreign publications and requires distributors of foreign
publications to obtain a government permit. The law allows the government to close a
newspaper without giving prior notice or showing cause. In 2013, nearly 65 percent of the
population accessed the internet. Internet access in Brunei is among the most expensive in the
region, however, and internet users often issue complaints about slow speeds and
unreliability. The primary internet service provider is state owned, giving the government a
considerable amount of control over content . The government also monitored private e-mail
32 Pramudya, D. (2007). Brunei redefines democracy. [online] The Brunei Times. Available at:
http://www.bt.com.bn/classification/opinion/2007/03/09/brunei_redefines_democracy [Accessed 1 May 2015].
33 state.gov, (n.d.). Brunei 2013 Human Rights Report. [online] Available at:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/220391.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
and internet chat room exchanges believed to be subversive. An Internet Code of Practice,
included in a 2001 press law, makes individuals as well as content and service providers liable
for publishing anything that is “against the public interest or national harmony or which
offends against good taste or decency.” Violation of the code is punishable by up to two years
of imprisonment and a BN$20,000 fine34.
Brunei Darussalam is a Muslim country with approximately 67 percent of the population is
Muslim, followed by 13 percent Buddhist, and 10 percent Christian (approximately half of
whom are Catholic). The constitution allows for the practice of religions other than the
official Sunni Islam, but proselytizing by non-Muslims is prohibited like Malaysia. Marriage
between Muslims and non-Muslims is not allowed. Muslims require permission from the
Ministry of Religious Affairs to convert to other faiths, though official and societal pressures
make conversion nearly impossible. In July 2013, the government enacted regulations
banning non-Muslims from eating in Muslim-owned restaurants and eateries during
Ramadan. Islamic law generally places women at a disadvantage in cases of divorce and
inheritance. All women in government-run institutions and schools are required or pressured
to wear traditional Muslim head coverings.
Brunei’s many “stateless” people, mostly longtime ethnic Chinese residents, are denied the
full rights and benefits of citizens, while migrant workers, who comprise approximately one
quarter of the workforce, are largely unprotected by labor laws and vulnerable to exploitation.
Workers who overstay visas are regularly imprisoned and, in some cases, caned or whipped 35.
The Philippines
The Philippines has a democratic government in the form of a constitutional republic with a
presidential system. Since the 1946 independence from the US, the Philippines persisted as an
oligarchic democracy though civil society has grown strong. The reality in the Philippines
political culture is shaped by its colonial legacy embedded elite control over government
policy. The Marcos dictatorship, which ended after the 1986 EDSA Revolution, oversaw
long-term economic decline, uncontrolled population growth, and a huge explosion of public
debt. The Benigno Aquino administration, which came to power in 2010 on a strong anti34 Freedomhouse.org, (2013). Brunei | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/brunei#.VUMk6SjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
35
Ibid
corruption agenda, has ushered in several years of unprecedented economic boom and
political stability however, the Aquino administration has suffered from declining popularity,
which has been exacerbated by an ongoing skirmish between the executive and the judiciary
branches of the government36.
Elections in The Philippines eventhough open and competitive, elections in the Philippines
are typically marred by fraud, intimidation, and political violence, though conditions have
improved in recent years. Other problems included media bias, which tends to favor wealthier
candidates, and vote buying. The Philippines has a multiparty system means that the political
participation is considered high although Political parties typically have weak ideological
identities and the parties coalition changes every time.
Scope of Freedom
The constitution provides for freedoms of expression and the press and the private media are
vibrant and outspoken, although content often consists more of innuendo and sensationalism
than substantive investigative reporting. Media cover controversial topics and criticize the
government, but they too lack strict journalistic ethics. While the censorship board has broad
powers to edit or ban content, government censorship is generally not a serious problem in
practice. There are no restrictive licensing requirements for newspapers or journalists, and
few legal limitations such as privacy or obscenity laws. The year 2013 saw a noticeable
increase in the number of violent attacks on journalists, including several killings, as well as a
jump in harassment, threats, and legal action against members of the media 37.
The internet is widely available in the Philippines and Freedom of religion is guaranteed
under the constitution and generally respected in practice. Academic freedom is also generally
respected The UN Development Programme has found the Philippines to be one of the few
countries in Asia to have significantly closed the gender gap in the areas of health and
education. A 2009 law included provisions calling for women to fill half of third-level
government positions, requiring that each barangay be equipped with a “violence against
women” desk, and recognizing women’s rights as human rights. Despite these measures,
enforcement has been uneven. Violence against women continues to be a significant problem,
36 Heydarian, R. (2014). Indonesia and the Philippines: A tale of two democracies. [online] Aljazeera.com. Available at:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/08/indonesiaphilippinestaletwo2014830124252647374.html [Accessed 1
May 2015].
37 Freedomhouse.org, (2015). Philippines | Freedom House. [online] Available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
press/2014/philippines#.VUNF9SjefQ [Accessed 1 May 2015].
and while marital rape is a crime, extremely few cases are prosecuted 38.
DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA
Indonesia is one of the biggest and most populous country among the Southeast Asia region
and labeled by The New York Times as Southeast Asia’s “ role model for democracy”.
Continuation of the success of democratic transition in Indonesia is good news for the region
and the world. Indonesia emerge on the world stage as a strong economy and with a
confidence that restored coherence and direction to ASEAN’s regional centrality, but before
we go any further discussing Indonesia’s democracy and what is the condition of Indonesia’s
democracy, first we have to know Indonesia’s type of government and political system.
Indonesia conducts a type of governance that is a multiparty presidential republic that is
democratic. As in other democratic countries, the Indonesian political system is based on the
Trias Politica that recognizes the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The legislative power is vested in the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) that consists of
two houses namely the House of Representatives (DPR) – composed of representatives of
political parties, and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) – composed of
representatives from each province in Indonesia 39.
Democracy in Indonesia did not go without changes throughout the 65 year since gained
Independence. Democracy Indonesia is different from western democracy as Moh. Hatta one
of Indonesia’s founding father used the term kerakyatan to differ from a more individualistic
western style. Indonesia uses democracy in politic, economy, and social field. In terms of
politics there are no much different with the western style but all aspects (politic, economy ,
and social) lean on values consisted in Pancasila, and that was why Indonesia’s democracy
also known as Pancasila Democracy which means that the highest authority vested in the
hand of the people which in practices , embedded by the Pancasila values. Pancasila was
designed as a statement of universal values, brilliantly couched by Sukarno in indigenous
terms, upon which all Indonesians could agree.
Pancasila
March 1 1945 the Investigating Committee for the Preparation of Indonesian Independence,
which task related to ideology, was to establish a dasar negara (philosophical basis of the
38
39
Ibid
Kbritashkent.go.id,. Politics and Government | The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. Retrieved 3 May 2015, from
http://www.kbritashkent.go.id/?page_id=61
state) to be included in the new constitution. There were some ideological debate in the
committee, those who wished to establish Islam as the basis of the state, those who sought to
establish a secular, constitutional democracy, and those who advocated what became known
as a Negara integralistik (an “integralistic state”). On June 1, 1945 in a now-famous speech
known as “Lahirnya Pancasila”, speech that summarized the ideological debate at the time.
Pancasila consists of the following five principles which are included in the Preamble to the
Indonesian Constitution of 1945: belief in God, a just and civilized humanitarianism, national
unity, Indonesian democracy through consultation and consensus, and social justice. The
debates continues after 1945 for 3 years until In 1959 Sukarno, dissolved the Konstituante
and decreed the original Constitution of August 18, 1945 to be the sole legal constitution of
Indonesia
Period in Indonesia’s Democracy
Mirriam Budiardjo (2008:127-128) stated from the history point of view, democracy in
Indonesia until the New Order era can be divided into 4 era which is 40 :
1. Constitutional Democracy (1945-1959)
Constitutional democracy featured the role of the parliament and political
parties and thus it’s also called Parliament Democracy. During the
revolutionary period of independence (1945-1959) , the implementation of a
new democracy is limited to political interaction in parliament and the press,
function as supporters of the revolution. At that time the government was busy
to fight to preserve the independence of the newly proclaimed
2. Guided Democracy (1959 – 1965)
In this period there were many aspect that diverged from the constitutional democracy
which showed few aspect on people’s democracy. Guided democracy was a period in
which democracy is understood and executed great revolutionary leader based
policies in this regard the president Soekarno, a period of intense three-way political
maneuvering between Sukarno, the armed forces, and the PKI. Learning that the
attempt of party politics in the 1950s brought nothing but political instability and gave
40
academia.edu, (2015). DEMOKRASI INDONESIA dari Pdf. [online] Available at: academia.edu,. DEMOKRASI
INDONESIA dari Pdf. Retrieved 3 May 2015, from http://www.academia.edu/7014074/DEMOKRASI_INDONESIAdari_pdf
[Accessed 3 May 2015].
rise to local insurgencies, Soekarno threw away the idea of parliamentary democracy,
Sukarno put forward the idea of democracy that suits the personality of the nation . In
an attempt to ideologically balance the contending forces of Islam, nationalism, and
communism at that time , Sukarno advocated not just Pancasila, but also a concept
known as “NASAKOM.” NASAKOM referred to a forced unity of nationalism,
religion, and communism.
3. Pancasila Democracy ( 1965 – 1998 )
Pancasila democracy era also known as the constitutional democracy that featured
presidential system41. This is also the era which Seoharto became president replacing
Seokarno.
A significant
feature
of
the
Soeharto
regime
was
thorough
institutionalization of an authoritarian rule with ‘development’ as the national
ideology. The Soeharto government enacted five political law, first on the
parliamentary system which in Seokarno time restricted, to make the parliament
function as a regime-stabilizing device, the Mass Organization Law that made it
mandatory for all organizations to accept Pancasila as the only principle, and the
National Referendum Law that in practice foreclosed the possibility of amending the
1945 Constitution. Freedom of speech is very limited and controlled by the
government42. The Soeharto government collapsed on 21 May 1998.
4. The fourth period of the Republic of Indonesia (1998 – 2004 ) is a period of
reform which wanted the establishment of democracy in Indonesia as a
correction to the political practices that occurred in the third period (New
Order era) of the Republic of Indonesia . under the new political laws, a free
general election was carried out and Indonesia’s president was elected for the
first time by vote at the newly organized MPR in October 1999. With these
events, it can be judged that Indonesia shifted from authoritarian system to
democratic system. In the democratization process Indonesia preferred to
41
“Presidential system means the President of Indonesia is both head of state and head of government”
42 repository.usu.ac.id,. perkembangan demokrasi di indonesia yang dituangkan dalam unjuk rasa ( demonstrasi ) sebagai hak
dalam mengemukakan pendapat. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from http://repository.usu.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/26176/3/Chapter
%20II.pdf
maintain the 1945 Constitution and adapt it by amendments rather than
making a new constitution like the Philippines and Thailand.
5. Electoral Democracy (2004 – now)
Since 2004 Indonesia uses Direct elections where candidate for president is directly
elected by the people not MPR resulted in the winning of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono. In 2004 the central government enacted a new law on regional
administration (Law No. 32/2004). In addition to clarifying local government powers,
this law introduced for the first time direct elections for heads of local government—
provincial governors , district heads, and town mayors. Direct elections for heads of
local government began in 2005, one year after Indonesia held its first direct
presidential election43.
Indonesia has many ethnicity, cultures, and social conditions (pluralism) that influence the
many difference way of people thinking and make decisions, pluralism is also the threat to the
development of democracy itself because political tensions, ideology and religion differences,
also the individual sense of being belong to particular ethnic. Democracy in Indonesia is more
or less perceived to be based on the political culture of the majority.
Scope of Freedom
The right to organize political parties is respected in Indonesia, though in recent years the
election laws have been amended to favor large parties by restricting eligibility for parties to
run for parliament or to field a presidential candidate.
In terms of media freedom, Indonesia hosts a vibrant and diverse media environment, though
press freedom is hampered by a number of legal and regulatory restrictions also foreign
journalists are not authorized to travel to the restive provinces of Papua and West Papua
without special permission. In addition, treason and blasphemy laws are routinely used to
limit freedom of expression by minority groups and separatists. Censorship and selfcensorship of books and films for allegedly obscene or blasphemous content are fairly
common.
The 2008 Law on Electronic Information and Transactions made restrictions to the internet
and online media, criminalizing the distribution or accessibility of information or documents
that are “contrary to the moral norms of Indonesia” or related to gambling, blackmail, or
43 Hillman, B. Electoral Governance and Democratic Consolidation in Indonesia. crawford.edu. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from
https://crawford.anu.edu.au/pdf/staff/ben_hillman/2013/ElectoralGovernanceandDemocraticConsolidationinIndonesia.pdf
defamation.
Indonesia officially recognizes Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, and Confucianism. Individuals have the option of leaving the religion section of
their national identity cards blank, but those who do face discrimination. Atheism is not
accepted, and the criminal code contains provisions against blasphemy, penalizing those who
“distort” or “misrepresent” official faiths. Freedom of travel and choice of residence,
employment, and higher education are generally respected although corruption still affects
businesses’ daily operations and routine interactions with the state bureaucracy.
Indonesia allowed for civil society organizations to be active, but some human rights groups
are subject to government monitoring and interference. Organizations cannot commit
blasphemy or advocate non-Pancasila ideologies, including Marxism-Leninism, atheism, and
communism. Discrimination against women persists, particularly in the workplace. A 2008
law states that 30 percent of a political party’s candidates and board members must be
women. Abortion is illegal except to save a woman’s life or in instances of rape; a regulation
that came into effect in August 2014 requires that abortion in the case of rape must take place
within 40 days44.
The Current Condition of Democracy in Indonesia
Indonesia has been using pancasila democracy as the values of the country, but now the
democracy values is questioned to whether or not still applied well in running Indonesia.
Under the leadership of president Joko Widodo, government is setting the stage for a longterm battle over the future of democracy in Southeast Asia’s most populous country.
Election Bill Issue
After the defeat of Prabowo, his “Red and White Coalition” continues to exert its influence
thus resulted in raising a notion of amending the Indonesian Constitution to eliminate direct
elections of local leaders and giving the power to appoint back to a legislative body that
Suharto had firmly controlled and used to perpetuate his hold on power. Proponents of the bill
cite that since 2004, about 300 local leaders elected through direct elections have been proven
to be corrupt or run into problems with the law. Rather than combating the corruption itself,
the bill’s proponents claim the election method is the problem. In their distrust in people’s
capacity to elect good leaders, they favor instead the dubious assumption that legislative
councils would do better at choosing clean leaders. 45 Led by Mr. Prabowo’s Gerindra party,
44
Freedomhouse.org. Indonesia | Freedom House. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom
world/2015/indonesia#.VUbiYyjefQ
45 Cochrane, J. (2014). In Indonesia, Stage Is Set for Battle Over Future of Democracy. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 4 May 2015,
from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/world/asia/indonesia-joko-widodo-parliament-opposition.html?_r=0
the opposition bloc includes Golkar, which was Suharto’s political vehicle during his rule, and
four other parties that backed Mr. Prabowo’s presidential run.
Indonesians began directly electing their presidents in 2004 and provincial-level leaders in
2005, Direct elections, part of the decentralisation measures implemented after the fall of
dictator Suharto in 1998, have been credited with producing a handful of promising new
leaders unconnected to the old elite, including Jokowi, who beat a former general in the
election in July, many saw Joko’s ultimate victory as the triumph of new politics over the old
military establishment . Many presume that changes Prabowo is trying to do is to bring us
back to Seoharto Era which mean our democracy has been challenged 46.
Joko Widodo, and his party PDIP try to fight the notion made by the opposition but the
number of seats belong to the red and white coalition make it difficult to do so, because even
if PDIP won the election the opposition held more power in the parliament. Aleksius Jemadu,
the dean of political sciences at Pelita Harapan University in Jakarta, said the bill reflected a
new development in Indonesian democracy, one where the parliament “can do anything they
want now because they control the majority and no one can stop them” 47.
The Fears have emerged for Indonesia’s democracy after its parliament voted to abolish the
direct election of local leaders, in which credited for helping president-elect Joko Widodo’s
rise to popularity as a mayor and governor before he won July’s national election and known
to be the first elected president with no direct ties to the old political and military
establishment. Citing a recent poll by the Indonesian Survey Circle that showed more than
80% of Indonesians opposed the bill48.
There is also many public opinion blaming the Democratic Party particularly SBY because
the party walked out on the proceedings resulting in the bill passed, but SBY claimed to be
away n the US at the time of the vote and He said his party was preparing a lawsuit to
challenge the bill and would seek recourse at the constitutional or supreme court but there was
mix comment about SBY act because SBY could stop the bill even before it was established 49.
In the mid of people’s opinion blaming SBY, he stated that he was against the indirect
election and will make few decrees (Perpu) to abolish the bill. First he must sign the
bill allowing it to pass then he made a decree to reject the Election Bill , then for a
46 Ibid
47 Lamb, K. (2014). Indonesia’s scrapping of direct elections raises fears for democracy. the Guardian. Retrieved 4 May 2015,
from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/26/indonesia-scraps-direct-elections-democracy-fears
48 Ibid
49 Aria Danaparamita, T. (2014). An Elegy to Indonesian Democracy. The Diplomat. Retrieved 4 May 2015, from
http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/an-elegy-to-indonesian-democracy/
while Law on Indirect elections can not be enfo