Democracy or “Democrazy”?

“Democracy is from the people, by the people, and for the people!” That was an Abraham Lincoln’s statement which is reminded of not only American people but also people in the world. Democracy emerged to fight authoritarianism and totalitarianism when people had bored with arbitrariness of the king and church, and also the intimate life of nobles. What about democracy in Indonesia? A democratic government was a cry of Indonesian in the Reformation era in 1998, because before Indonesia was known as the Javanese feudal kingdom under the government of Soeharto which was similar to authoritarianism and militarism. However, today democracy causes some complex issues in Indonesia because democracy is defined wider. For those, there are some unresolved issues in Indonesia because of the wider definition of democracy.

Generally, democracy is defined as a system of government in which every citizen can vote to elect its government officials. So, the citizens free to choose the government officials by a general election in every democratic country like Indonesia. However, democracy is considered as more than just a voting activity by election nowadays. It is defined as a system which brings freedom of everything. This freedom make citizens deem that everything in this country is based on freedom. The first point of freedom is freedom of speech. Every citizen can give their opinion or disagreement to the government by action like a protest demonstration. It is very contrast with New Order era when societies did not have rights to critics the government. However, this freedom can cause riot when some groups of people have different arguments.

The second point is freedom of ownership. According to the reality, Indonesia is well-known as a rich country of natural resources, picturesque cities, mountains, and tourism objects. In fact, those beauties are not appropriate in the reality. Many Indonesian societies are still inside the circle of poverty. It can be reflected on many laws which do not take side with citizens. For instance, the government policy of privatization in Indonesia gives a huge opportunity to foreign and private companies that can influence the economy system. As a result, many natural resources are grabbed by private and foreign companies because Indonesian laws give the freedom of ownership. Take for example, PT. Freeport which is owned by the United States of America. This company can obtain profit around 90% of the gold mine in Papua and Indonesia just can gain profit around 1-5% from PT. Freeport. In addition, PT. PERTAMINA has to compete with other private oil companies, such as Shell, Exxon Mobil, Mobil Oil, etc. Those are diabolical laws that make poverty in Indonesia become wider.

The third point of democracy is freedom of faith or religion. As we know, Indonesia law had admitted and protected the citizens to believe on their faith or religion freely. However, this freedom causes some issues like religious cults. One example of religious cults is Ahmadiyah which very controversial in Indonesia nowadays. Even though the government has controlled the law for freedom of religion it does not mean that there is no boundary of this freedom. What we can see in Ahmadiyah is clearly deviate from Islam. Absolutely, there is no other prophet after Muhammad, but Ahmadiyah admitted that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad is also a prophet. In fact, the government is still in a hard situation to judge this issue because many societies argue for and against of this issue. Moreover, there are many religious cults in Indonesia which can make societies feel anxious, such as Salamullah, Qiyadah Islamiyah, etc.

The last point is freedom of expression. Take, for example, pornography. Although the government had formed the law of pornography in Indonesia, some people still argue against this law. In addition, the law of pornography actually is not really strict and cannot solve pornography issues in Indonesia fully. Because of some reasons like mass media or some importance of movie production, pornography still exists in societies. Certainly, it can jeopardize children and teenagers in Indonesia.

From all of those points, democracy which theoretically can be a solution for the better Indonesia actually just makes Indonesia become in worse condition. This condition unfortunately is also strengthened by some people or organizations that support humans right fanatically. People who think that human right is number one will base every problem on it. Therefore, Indonesian laws become weak also because people always think that human right should be number one and cannot be fought. This is actually also an explanation form of freedom.

Democracy which is defined wider as a form of freedom causes serious issues and some negative effects to Indonesian. The government in Indonesia should be strong and firm to erect the law in Indonesia. There is no fully freedom and absolute in this life although we have freedom because this life is controlled by The Mighty.