Indonesia's Misguided Democracy

...Sukarno’s guided democracy has become a dictatorship...

...this is the iron law of history...

...THE INDONESIAN REVOLUTION, aiming at the establishment of humanism and social justice, will not be satisfied with political democracy alone...

...But world history has also shown that dictatorship dependent upon a single person’s authority does not endure...

...There are objective criteria which will decide the matter...

...There has been little concern for the principle of “the right man in the right place...

...The idea of democracy has lived in the Indonesian national movement since the colonial period and gave spirit to the struggle for independence...

...This article is a condensed version translated from the Indonesian...

...It was forgotten that a state in transition needs a strong government to overcome its difficulties, and while the idea of democracy is prevalent in Indonesia, skill in its execution has been lacking...

...instead, Government servants have been driven to corruption and deceit in their search for security...

...This invites anarchy and leads finally to rampant corruption and demoralization...

...Sukarno’s great deviation from the basis of the Constitution results from a crisis in democracy due to the political leadership’s lack of responsibility and tolerance...

...The armed forces, long dissatisfied with the operations of political parties and since 1958 charged with great administrative responsibilities, increased their meddling in government until finally they pressed for the return to the 1945 Constitution...

...if not, man remains unfree and equality and fraternity unborn...

...the teachings of Islam which demand truth and God’s justice...

...Although responsibility existed at the proclamation of independence in 1945, by the time independence had been recognized by the whole world in 1949, the requirements for developing democracy in practice had been forgotten...

...His aims are always good, but his measures lead him far afield...

...Consequently, he often achieves the reverse of what he seeks...

...the belief in the importance of God’s blessing to Indonesian independence...

...The Constitution was formulated on the basis of the Five Principles as the political foundation of the state, but it cannot be denied that the political leaders have failed in their task over the past 10 years...

...in addition, the original Indonesian society based on democracy is still found in the villages today...

...The three major points of the Preamble are as follows: The political basis and ideals of the Indonesian people are characterized by the belief in the right of independence for every nation, opposition to colonialism and the desire to bring about world order...

...As long as the Indonesian people are willing to learn from their mistakes and return to the state ideology with purified spirit, then, God willing, democracy, which has temporarily slept, will reawake...

...If Five-Principles democracy is to be attained, then its implementation requires a consciousness of responsibility and tolerance and the desire to apply the principle of “the right man in the right place...

...In the past three years especially, President Sukarno has acted in clear opposition to his constitutional role, taking responsible actions without being constitutionally responsible...

...Indonesia strives for an all-embracing social democracy, derived from three major sources: Western socialist thought with its concern for humanitarian principles...

...The pamphlet was banned in many areas of Indonesia as dangerous to public order, but such is Hatta’s prestige that no action has been taken against him personally...

...Will the people’s welfare be achieved, will he be able to stem the decline in people’s living standards in the shortest possible time, and will he be able to halt the continuous inflation that is driving the Indonesian people to despair...

...The League of Democracy should establish a clear and firm common policy...

...To uphold democracy then is a moral duty, for the disappearance of democracy means the disappearance of independent Indonesia...

...He personally formed a new Government, dissolved the popularly elected Constituent Assembly and decreed the return to the 1945 Constitution (which provided for a Presidential Government...

...Due to its own errors democracy can be temporarily suppressed or put aside, as it is now, but after it has endured a bitter test it will return with full consciousness...

...While our ideals aim at a government able to bring about real democracy and the utmost prosperity for the people, reality has shown the development of a government which has strayed far from true democracy...

...A parliamentary cabinet system was instituted in the enthusiasm of an ultra-democratic spirit, and in the 1950 Constitution the President and Vice President were made national symbols while a multiplicity of political parties carried on endless political conflicts in Parliament...

...Many people justified these and other unconstitutional actions on the grounds of an existing state of emergency, but in failing to object on principle, Parliament sold its birthright...

...The Preamble to the 1945 Constitution, in setting out the ideals of the Indonesian Republic, provides essential guidance to the Indonesian people if they are to train themselves to be honest and good citizens in accordance with their promise to God...

...If it can agree on such foundations and basic principles in rebuilding democracy in its present state of crisis, then there is great hope that it can eventually become a pioneer in paving the way for the return of sound Indonesian democracy...

...Sukarno then dismissed the Parliament when it opposed his budget and chose another more in accord with his own conceptions...

...Hatta charged that the President’s policy of “guided democracy”‘ has led to a simple dictatorship, but asserted that the roots of democracy are so strong in Indonesia that not even Sukarno’s regime can crush them...

...The League of Democracy is a new movement created as a challenge to Sukarno’s establishment of the Mutual Cooperation Parliament, but it lacks at present a positive policy of its own...

...the dictatorship he has created in the name of guided democracy will bring him to a situation contrary to his ideals...

...the aim of prosperity for all the people is still far from attained, while the value of money continues to fall...

...and the belief in the Five Principles of Coexistence (the Panch Shila) as the philosophy of state—belief in God, humanism, nationalism, democracy and social justice...

...It cannot be denied that Sukarno is a patriot who seeks to achieve a just and prosperous Indonesia as quickly as possible...

...They have neglected the Five Principles more than they have followed them and Indonesia has now drifted far from its ideals...

...Opposition to the undemocratic formation of the Parliament is not sufficient...

...Indonesia resembles Schiller’s description of the arrival of a great epoch which was able to produce only insignificant people, but history has also taught that anything with very high value, such as democracy, can be appreciated much more after a temporary absence...

...Everywhere people are dissatisfied, for development has not progressed according to expectation...

...THE PAST 10 YEARS of Indonesian history present contrasts between idealism and reality...

...The growth of democracy has been neglected due to the constant political conflicts...

...But it is not true, as many believe after a cursory appraisal of the past 10 years of Indonesian politics, that democracy has vanished forever from Indonesia...

...I have long been at loggerheads with Sukarno on the form and composition of an efficient government, but it is appropriate to give Sukarno a fair opportunity to see if his system can succeed...

...Political development that ends with disorder, democracy that ends with anarchy, open the way for dictatorship...

...The numerous political parties have been concerned only with themselves while the community has been neglected, for the party has been regarded as the end and the state only as the means...

...The various foreign revenue-producing regions, seeking more political and financial autonomy to achieve their own development, have challenged the central Government...

...Not a single person from his cooperating team possesses the caliber and authority to carry on the system, nor is there a shred of evidence that the system is liked by the people...

...A leading Indonesian statesman protests against the nature of Sukarno’s rule and its suppression of democratic traditions Indonesia’s Misguided Democracy By Mohammed Hatta A few months ago, Mohammed Hatta, former Vice President of Indonesia (1945-56) and a co-signer of the 1945 Independence Declaration with President Sukarno, published a pamphlet called “Our Democracy,” the most outspoken attack on Sukarno and his system ever printed in Indonesia...

...Due to his nature and aptitudes, however, he sees only the broad lines of his conceptions, without bothering about details which may prove decisive in their implementation...

...and the experience of Indonesian village society based upon collectivism, including the highly important features of mutual cooperation, general discussion and full deliberation...

...Many plans lie abandoned and destruction and decay are seen everywhere...

...There must be economic democracy as well...

...Sukarno’s creation will not last longer than Sukarno himself, and when he is gone his system will fall automatically, like a house of cards...

...This democracy is already deeply rooted in the community and cannot be eliminated forever...

...The President believes his conception of “guided democracy” to be the best means of securing a just and prosperous society, the Indonesian Revolution’s goal, but his recent changes in the Parliament have eliminated all vestiges of democracy...