Democracy in Indonesia Evaluated Below the Rest of the World
Friday, 19 May, 2006 | 13:13 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Saiful Mujani, Director of the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said yesterday that democracy in Indonesia is evaluated below the average of the rest of the world. “Indonesia stands at 72 percent out of the world's average rate of 84 percent,” he said during the seminar of “Consolidation of Indonesian Democracy: A Reflection of Eight Years Reformation.”

The result, Saiful said, resulted from a series of national public opinion surveys carried out since 1999, the Center for Islamic & Social Welfare Studies (PPIM) from 2000 to 2001, the Indonesian Survey Institute 2003-2006, and comparison by the World Value Survey 1990-2000.

Indonesia's position, in addition to being below the world's average, is far from the other countries such as Germany, 93 percent; United States and Japan, 88 percent; South Africa, 85 percent; and South Korea, 84 percent. According to Saiful, this is influenced by the pros and cons of democracy as the best political way.

While elements affecting the democracy process are political institutions—political party, the president, and the House of Representatives (DPR). “So they are responsible for the emerging public awareness of the pluses and minuses of democratic practice,” he said.

From the results of the survey and analysis, it can be also seen that the general public do not in fact care whether democracy is good or bad. “Clearly they only measure the rate of the national economy.” The survey has revealed that the public satisfaction of economic performance dropped from 67 percent in 2005 to 62 percent in 2006.

In response to the explanation, J.Kristiadi from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the democratic system in Indonesia is the best system among the others. However, to improve the public's satisfaction of the democratic system, he said, breakthroughs in democracy are necessary.

Zaky Almubarok