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Indonesia's democratic miracle
By Kishore Mahbubani
First Published: September 15, 2008
JAKARTA: Modern miracles do happen. Ten years ago, as the Asian
financial crisis savaged Indonesia's economy, many experts predicted
that the country would become unstable, if not splinter. Instead,
Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, has emerged as
a beacon of freedom and democracy for the Muslim world. What
happened? And why hasn't the world taken note?
The story is as complex as Indonesia itself. One leading expert on
Indonesia, Benedict Anderson, roots Indonesia's nature in its core
Javanese culture, particularly the wayang religious tradition. According
to Anderson, "In contrast to the great religions of the Near East…the
religion of wayang has no prophet, no message, no Bible, no Redeemer.
…The endless variety and sharp individuality of its dramatis personae
indicate that wayang reflects the variegation of human life as it is felt
by the Javanese..." In short, Javanese culture helps Indonesia handle
the many diverse voices that a new democracy throws up.
There is also a strong Indonesian tradition of resolving disagreements
through "musyawarah dan mufakat" (consultation and consensus). Of
course, this tradition has not always prevented violence, most
notoriously in the killings that followed the 1966 coup against
President Sukarno. And ten years ago, during the financial crisis,
violent anti-Chinese riots erupted again, causing many Chinese to flee
the country.
Today, however, many of those Chinese have returned. In a
remarkable development, Chinese language and culture, which had
been suppressed for decades, is allowed free expression. By contrast,
imagine Turkey, a more advanced member state of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference, allowing free expression of Kurdish language
and culture.
Indonesia's record looks even more remarkable when compared to the
United States. Americans explain their country's democratic backsliding
by pointing to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But Indonesia was attacked,
too, with the bombing in Bali coming little more than a year later, on
October 12, 2002. Despite this, Indonesia has consolidated its
democracy. Indeed, in 2005 Freedom House declared that Indonesia
had moved from "partly free" to "free."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono deserves great credit for this
remarkable success. Under his leadership, the long-standing and
painful Aceh conflict was peacefully resolved. Some credit the 2004
tsunami, which killed hundreds of thousands of Acehnese, for this
breakthrough. But Sri Lanka was hit equally hard by the tsunami, and
since then the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict has worsened.
Today, the biggest threat to Indonesia's democracy comes from
America, even though most Americans want Indonesia's democracy to
succeed. With modern technology, Indonesian Muslims can see clearly
the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, the disastrous results of the
American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and America's silence when
Lebanon was bombed in July 2006. Many senior Americans were
puzzled that Turkey, a long-standing NATO ally and a secular state,
refused to allow American forces to use Turkey as a base to invade
Iraq. If relatively secular Turkish society could be swept by a surge of
anti-American sentiment, so, too, can Indonesia society.
Indeed, a major struggle is underway between those who want
Indonesia to become more fundamentalist and those who want to
preserve the traditionally open and tolerant nature of Javanese
culture. Curiously, while many Americans and Europeans want
moderate Muslim voices to succeed in Indonesia (and Southeast Asia),
they often undermine moderates with policies that are perceived as
anti-Islamic.
America's stance on military aid to Indonesia is but one example. For
several years, some members of the US Senate have maintained a
punitive policy towards Indonesia by cutting off military assistance and
curtailing Indonesian military training in the US. These punitive policies
are self-defeating. In recent years, the Indonesian military has
provided a model for other Third World military forces on how to accept
a transition to a full democracy. There are no threats of a coup d'état,
and senior generals, such as Bambang, who studied in American
military colleges, returned to Indonesia as convinced democrats.
It is a tragedy that ignorance of how much Indonesia has changed is
being allowed to endanger its democratic development — and its role
as a beacon of freedom and hope in the Islamic world. It is to be hoped
that Barack Obama, should he win America's presidency, will recall the
tolerant Indonesia where he grew up and shape policies toward it
accordingly.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Indonesia's democratic miracle
By Kishore Mahbubani
First Published: September 15, 2008
JAKARTA: Modern miracles do happen. Ten years ago, as the Asian
financial crisis savaged Indonesia's economy, many experts predicted
that the country would become unstable, if not splinter. Instead,
Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, has emerged as
a beacon of freedom and democracy for the Muslim world. What
happened? And why hasn't the world taken note?
The story is as complex as Indonesia itself. One leading expert on
Indonesia, Benedict Anderson, roots Indonesia's nature in its core
Javanese culture, particularly the wayang religious tradition. According
to Anderson, "In contrast to the great religions of the Near East…the
religion of wayang has no prophet, no message, no Bible, no Redeemer.
…The endless variety and sharp individuality of its dramatis personae
indicate that wayang reflects the variegation of human life as it is felt
by the Javanese..." In short, Javanese culture helps Indonesia handle
the many diverse voices that a new democracy throws up.
There is also a strong Indonesian tradition of resolving disagreements
through "musyawarah dan mufakat" (consultation and consensus). Of
course, this tradition has not always prevented violence, most
notoriously in the killings that followed the 1966 coup against
President Sukarno. And ten years ago, during the financial crisis,
violent anti-Chinese riots erupted again, causing many Chinese to flee
the country.
Today, however, many of those Chinese have returned. In a
remarkable development, Chinese language and culture, which had
been suppressed for decades, is allowed free expression. By contrast,
imagine Turkey, a more advanced member state of the Organization of
the Islamic Conference, allowing free expression of Kurdish language
and culture.
Indonesia's record looks even more remarkable when compared to the
United States. Americans explain their country's democratic backsliding
by pointing to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But Indonesia was attacked,
too, with the bombing in Bali coming little more than a year later, on
October 12, 2002. Despite this, Indonesia has consolidated its
democracy. Indeed, in 2005 Freedom House declared that Indonesia
had moved from "partly free" to "free."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono deserves great credit for this
remarkable success. Under his leadership, the long-standing and
painful Aceh conflict was peacefully resolved. Some credit the 2004
tsunami, which killed hundreds of thousands of Acehnese, for this
breakthrough. But Sri Lanka was hit equally hard by the tsunami, and
since then the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict has worsened.
Today, the biggest threat to Indonesia's democracy comes from
America, even though most Americans want Indonesia's democracy to
succeed. With modern technology, Indonesian Muslims can see clearly
the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, the disastrous results of the
American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and America's silence when
Lebanon was bombed in July 2006. Many senior Americans were
puzzled that Turkey, a long-standing NATO ally and a secular state,
refused to allow American forces to use Turkey as a base to invade
Iraq. If relatively secular Turkish society could be swept by a surge of
anti-American sentiment, so, too, can Indonesia society.
Indeed, a major struggle is underway between those who want
Indonesia to become more fundamentalist and those who want to
preserve the traditionally open and tolerant nature of Javanese
culture. Curiously, while many Americans and Europeans want
moderate Muslim voices to succeed in Indonesia (and Southeast Asia),
they often undermine moderates with policies that are perceived as
anti-Islamic.
America's stance on military aid to Indonesia is but one example. For
several years, some members of the US Senate have maintained a
punitive policy towards Indonesia by cutting off military assistance and
curtailing Indonesian military training in the US. These punitive policies
are self-defeating. In recent years, the Indonesian military has
provided a model for other Third World military forces on how to accept
a transition to a full democracy. There are no threats of a coup d'état,
and senior generals, such as Bambang, who studied in American
military colleges, returned to Indonesia as convinced democrats.
It is a tragedy that ignorance of how much Indonesia has changed is
being allowed to endanger its democratic development — and its role
as a beacon of freedom and hope in the Islamic world. It is to be hoped
that Barack Obama, should he win America's presidency, will recall the
tolerant Indonesia where he grew up and shape policies toward it
accordingly.
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