Abstract
In the book Politics in Contemporary Indonesia: Institutional Change, Policy Challenges, and Democratic Decline, Ken MP Setiawan and Dirk Tomsa analyze the most prominent ideas, institutions, interests and political issues that shape Indonesian politics today. This book attempts to answer key questions: What is the dominant political narrative that underpins Indonesian politics?; How has Indonesia’s institutional framework developed since the dawn of democracy in 1998?; How can competing political interests defeat or strengthen democracy in Indonesia?; How will the decline of democracy affect prospects for Indonesia’s handling of its key policy challenges?; How does Indonesia compare to other Muslim-majority countries and its regional neighbors?
This book’s first chapter reviews contemporary Indonesian political trends and faces. There was a cabinet reshuffle carried out by President Joko Widodo, namely, less than a year after starting his second and final term, Jokowi dismissed 6 of the 34 ministers, in a desperate attempt to improve the performance of his cabinet in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which in December 2020 had cost more than 20,000 Indonesians. This has pushed the country into its first recession since the start of democracy in 1998.
Next, the second chapter outlines the main features of this authoritarian period for training in how much historical baggage Indonesia carried when describing it in 1998. This chapter focuses on how, over time, governance was organized in the region we know as Indonesia today. This chapter, therefore, considers the recurring views of central government and decentralization, the role of the military in politics, Islamic political positions, spaces of political opposition, the emergence of powerful oligarchs and corruption. While some of these factors, such as corruption, became very prominent during the New Order regime (1966–1998).
The third chapter begins with a summary of constitutional powers and executive partisanship, before outlining the main features of Indonesia’s bicameral parliament. It then proceeds to examine the party system and the main parties currently represented in parliament. Meanwhile, the last section discusses the history of Indonesian elections since 1999 and highlights important trends in electoral politics. Furthermore, chapter 4 begins with a brief review of the historical legacy of centralized authoritarianism during the New Order era, before continuing by discussing the main pillars of regional autonomy, including fiscal decentralization, direct elections and the authority of regional governments to issue regional regulations.
In the next chapter, this book reviews the judiciary; this chapter discusses the brief historical background of the legal system, focusing on the main challenges that emerged under the New Order, namely, corruption and executive control over the judiciary. This chapter provides a summary of the general reforms that occurred after 1998, with a particular focus on the Supreme Court. To highlight the diversity of courts operating in Indonesia, this chapter then considers how Islam influences the judiciary by considering the Religious Courts and Sharia Courts in Aceh. In the following chapters, this book also reviews Islam and politics, civil society and the media, human development and public health, gender equality and sexual politics, human rights, environmental challenges, Indonesian foreign policy and finally discusses Indonesia from a comparative perspective, which begins with a summary of the following key arguments developed in this book.
First, Indonesian democracy must deal with a grand history inherited from prolonged colonial rule and decades of authoritarian rule under Sukarno and Suharto. Second, since the start of democratization, Indonesia has challenged the opportunity to develop a well-functioning institutional framework for democratic governance and elections. Third, the time when narratives about democratic reform dominated public discourse are long gone. On the contrary, now Indonesia is amid a contestation of ideas between the last defenders of the reform narrative, supporters of repressive pluralism and adherents of Islamism. Fourth, democratic gains in terms of institutional frameworks and policy-making have gradually eroded under the onslaught of entrenched elites, while long-existing democratic deficits that were never really resolved in the early post-Suharto years such as corruption, restrictions on freedom of religion and the weak institutionalization of political parties have not only persisted but in some cases at least have become increasingly serious. Fifth, Indonesia’s trend toward illiberal democracy has negative implications for Indonesia’s ability to address some of its most pressing policy challenges, such as public health, gender equality, human rights and environmental protection which are all impacted by democratic decline.
This book aims to build on various assessments of recent Indonesian politics and further increase understanding of the reasons behind Indonesia’s democratic decline. This book also aims to provide readers with some prior knowledge of the country with some basic background on the most prominent political ideas, institutions, interests and issues that shape the political dynamics in Indonesia today, through the question of whether Indonesia still deserves to be labeled famous as a “model of Muslim democracy.” This book argues that the most serious threats to Indonesian democracy stem from the fading appeal of democracy as a compelling narrative, the capture of increasingly audacious democratic institutions by predatory interests and the narrowing of the public sphere for those seeking to defend democratic values. But this book is more than just assessing the quality of democracy. By linking democratic deficits to various public policy issues, this book also highlights how the declining quality of democracy reduces the prospects for Indonesia to successfully face the most pressing policy challenges in the areas of public health, gender equality, human rights and environmental conservation.
