Ikatan Mahasiswa Muhammadiyah-Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia: Juni 2008

“What is the positive side of democracy?” The question was asked by my lecturer during class session several days ago. Actually, it will be difficult to answer this question perfectly. Since 1998, many things changed in Indonesia: amendment of constitution, freedom of the press, multiparty system, bicameral parliament, TNI reform, independent candidates, executive and legislative members who were chosen directly by the people and so on. In November 2007, IAPC (International Association of Political Consultant) gave The Democracy Award to Indonesia, what an achievment.

Unfortunately, the situation we face today is not good enough: the data released by Center Board of Statistics (BPS) in 2007 states that 37. 17 millions of Indonesian people are still in poverty. The standard used by BPS is about 5,500 Rupiahs minimum consumption per capita per day. If we use World Bank standard (US$ 1 per capita per day for extreme poverty and US$ 2 per capita per day for moderate poverty) the data will be significantly increased: 63 millions of Indonesian people are in extrem poverty while 126 millions people are in moderate poverty. In the other hand, the data from BPS also states that in 2007 we still have about 10.55 millions unemployed people.

Moreover, we still have many problems: malnutrition, education, health, migrant labor and so forth. It is understandable that some of Indonesian people ask: what is the effect of democracy?

The pessimistic point of view was reflected in several regional elections. Many people didn’t give their votes. In West Java election, for example, 37.5% of the voters didn’t give their choice. The data from other regional elections show the same phenomena: North Sumatra (about 35 %) Sukabumi (25.57%) Tanggerang (about 31%) and Nganjuk (35 %)

The people may say that government has to be responsible for everything, and the democracy has failed.

However, in the direct election system, the voters also have important role. The simplest reason is: when I chose the legislative members, for example, I have to be responsible for my decision. I have to know, at least, general track record of the candidates, and make sure that he/she is the appropriate person to represent my interest, based on my logic, not my emotion. Unfortunately, it seems that we (I say we, including me) as the voters are not aware with our choice yet. One of the evidences is the corruption case in the parliament. We may say that all of the parliament members who involved in corruption case are not responsible to the people they represent, but the case has another side: in the election system we use today, it is impossible for somebody to be legislative members without having a lot of support. The question is: why they can be chosen? It must something wrong here.

Certainly, the government has to be responsible for every policy, but the starting point is the election. I believe that Indonesia has potential leaders, and it is our responsibility to choose the best one. Everyone has own right to choose or not to choose in the election, but every choice has its own consequence. If we don’t give our votes, we give more opportunity for non-competent candidates to be the leaders. By giving our votes, at least, we can minimize the negative effect of democracy. The point is we have to be more careful, rational and selective in choosing our leader.

Perhaps it is not the best solution, but at least we can maximize the positive effect of democracy. We have to be smart voters, for the best government, for the best future.