For Indonesia's political insiders, the past 12 years have been a honeymoon period for democracy - time to get to know each other and enjoy the perks of the process.

Enough already, says Islamic scholar and political observer Bahtiar Effendy - it's time to get to the core of things.

"People have to remember that democracy is only a means and not an end," he says. "What we call democracy in our country today is still merely procedural."

Bahtiar, a lecturer at Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah state Islamic university who is today being inaugurated as Professor of Politics at the university, has been keeping a close eye on the state of democracy in Indonesia since the beginning of the reform.

Born and raised in Ambarawa, Central Java, Bahtiar attended formal school in the morning and Islamic school in the afternoon. He went on to study in an Islamic boarding school in Muntilan, Central Java, before attending Syarif Hidayatullah state Islamic university. There and afterward, his interest in politics - and his concerns about Indonesian democracy - deepened.

The scholar's biggest concern about the current state of democracy in Indonesia is that it has become too fluid to be considered high quality or to have adequate depth and substance.

"In short, *the practice* of democracy should not neglect the main purpose of running a state: stability, security and socioeconomic comfort for all," he says.

Bahtiar's understanding of the kind of democracy that fits Indonesian culture is probably the result of a mixture of his Islamic education and the advanced degrees in politics and Southeast Asian studies he gained in the United States. This education also shaped him as the open-minded Muslim scholar that he is, to the extent he has been labeled a secular one, but "they label me without actually knowing who I really am".

Claiming to be a conservative in the sense that he believes in the role of the state in leading the lives of many, Bahtiar points out that the country still lacks a structured institution that is strong enough to manage differing and even often clashing interests.

"We're not serious enough in actually building a state, a government consistent enough to focus on strengthening our chosen presidential system that emphasizes order, to be able to truly develop," Bahtiar says.

Bahtiar believes that Indonesia has still not achieved governance that can manage conflicting interests and differences through a system that everyone agrees on.

With the collapse of the authoritarian Soeharto regime, a wave of euphoria over freedom of expression and political participation swept the country and persists to this day. But, as Bahtiar puts it, democracy appears only on the surface, with power sharing still taking place through "pragmatic" politics.

"What is negotiated in parliament, for example, is not aimed at building a better system, but at creating one that would allow room for power sharing. For everyone to get a piece of the pie," he says.

He offers the inconsistency behind the Election Law as a clear example, pointing out that, as the loose political party system means no single party can dominate the arena, any elected president must continue to share power to survive.

"Even if we claim to have a presidential system, the president still has to compromise in choosing people to serve in the Cabinet for the sake of accommodating the interests of parties that joined the coalition that supports him," the 50-year-old professor says.

"Theoretically, the parliamentary system is the ideal practice of democracy. But if we consider our culture, our ways and traditions in doing politics, the presidential system fits better.

"And we should focus on building the capacity to strengthen that system."

But, as has so often happened in this country, what is on paper rarely reflects reality.

For Bahtiar, Indonesia is an anomaly, always a hybrid of two different systems in running a state. It's presidential but partly parliamentary. It's not a federal state but comes close to one in practice.

He believes that these aspects probably come from placing democratic procedures on a pedestal without actually getting to the essence of the ideology.

"Talking about decentralization, for example: There is no clear structure of relations between the central government and local ones," he says. "If the provincial government is meant only to manage cross-municipal issues and be a representative of the central government, then what's the point of directly electing governors?"

Historically, Bahtiar recalls, the country has clearly chosen a path toward democracy, despite having experimented - and failed - with its early attempt at the system.

"Nowadays, we already have basic prerequisites to actually build a resilient and sustainable government through democracy," he says. "But we are still missing some other sociocultural, economic and political prerequisites to reach a reasonably decent and working democracy."

Insufficient attention has been paid to creating and implementing policies that are responsive to the demands, interests and preferences of the many, he claims. Rather, politicians are still too busy deciding which piece of the pie goes to whom.

"There should definitely be good intent - that being a public official, a legislator, or a governor is not just a way to make a living," he says. "It should be based on a calling, a vocation, or in Max Weber's word beruf."

Meanwhile, as an academic, Bahtiar chooses to stay outside the circle, as "being inside politics is not my cup of tea . I haven't had the calling to actually jump into real politics."

"There's no significant role that academics can play inside. The most we can do is to create a discourse. One that will snowball into a movement saying enough is enough," he says.

But isn't it a little frustrating merely to observe the action from the sidelines?

"People might say that being outside *politics* is tiring, but I can imagine that being inside is even more frustrating. Some have even had strokes from the tension of playing politics," he says, adding with a laugh, "I still want to live."

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