The future challenge of democracy

The discourse and the dynamics of democracy will always remain attractive for study, especially in Indonesia, which has been internationally recognized as one of the global champions of democracy.

The dynamics of democracy in Indonesia continue to find the ideal form for Indonesia. We can see the implementation in various social fields such as politics (through direct legislative and presidential elections in 2009), economic (the application of various schools of economics), social and cultural (community cultural heterogeneity) and various other areas. Democracy is certainly never going to stop (democracy is a never-ending adventure).

The nature of democracy has given society public recognition of its rights on the real political, economic, social and cultural freedoms, and also freedom of press, religion, freedom to speak, to express opinion, expression, criticism and even monitoring the government. Everything can happen in the nature of democracy.

But it must be admitted that the process of democracy and the future of democracy in Indonesia are full of challenges and obstacles. The future democratic challenges are enormous.

First, there is the resistance to the concept of democracy. There are a lot of parties opposed to the concept of democracy itself. The concept of democracy is often contrasted against Islamic values. There are some assumptions that democracy is not in line with Islamic values, and that democracy is the agenda of Western interests often developed as a reason for the resistance to the ideas of democracy.

One of the driving forces is Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), which clearly rejects the concept of democracy and instead proposes the khilafah Islamiyah system as the best solution.

The khilafah system requires the implementation of Islamic sharia law and the raising of someone as caliph, and demands all followers to be united under his leadership.

The concept of khilafah (a global Islamic state) has been rejected by many religious leaders, such as K.H. Hasyim Muzadi - chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization - and Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah. It goes against the spirit of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), which is based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution, but the campaign for khilafah still runs continuously and systematically.

Second, the interpretation of democracy: Until now, democracy is always identified with power by the majority as a representation of people's sovereignty.

Almost all groups in this country understand the concept of democracy as the majority mandate. Therefore they compete to be the majority that is able to make rules and regulations as they wish, no matter whether it denies the rights of minorities or not. Everything is done just to be the one running the democracy.

Democracy uses the majority perspective in the sense of victory and the minority as defeat, ultimately leading to an attitude of superiority and inferiority in attitude and points of view.

Being democratic does not mean only belonging to the winner; the awareness and willingness to be a fair loser is also part of democracy itself. We can see the attitude of the candidates in the legislative and presidential elections of 2009, who were not able to gracefully accept the reality of their victory and defeat.

The democratic system above clearly shows the fundamental weaknesses caused by the lack of real political education. Democracy is not just about winning or losing, but how to yield the palm and admit the victory with humility.

If this problem is not addressed carefully, it will exacerbate the distrust between parties, whether in the majority or minority groups.

If this situation persists, there is no doubt that the democratization process in Indonesia will experience a setback. Third, democracy's principle issue: The main principle of democracy is that society is free to appreciate its desire.

Through the argument of freedom through the nature of democracy, it cannot be avoided that all groups, including fundamentalist Islamic ones, are able to voice their legitimate aspirations avowedly, including fighting for the establishment of an Islamic state with their khilafah concept.

Today, this movement has begun growing toward the formalization of Islamic law by trying to change the state system into an Islamic one. This can be seen from the appearance of Islamic regulations in various regions in Indonesia, such as Aceh, South Sulawesi, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara and so on.

Pro-Islamic regulations tend to idealize the neo-religious in the sense of Islamic identity and political or even state identity. Everything in society deserves an Islamic society stamp.

Based on democratic procedures, the existence of these regulations is not a problem. But there is a violation when it is viewed from the goal of democracy guaranteed by the Constitution.

The existence of sharia regulations can disrupt other people's sense of justice. It must consider the pluralist and multicultural Indonesian public space where the various value systems, identities and ideologies grow and develop together.

It should be remembered that Indonesia is a republic, where the state provides the same place for every citizen to enjoy freedom based on the Constitution. Here is the common joint program to be fought for. This joint program is called Indonesia, with Pancasila as the basis.

Realizing the three challenges of democracy, it is time for all stakeholders in this nation to reflect and reformulate the spirit, procedures and objectives of democracy itself in the frame of the NKRI.

We are all responsible for continuing this fight for the future of democracy in this nation. The democratic process and its application must refer to the universal principles and ethics of true democracy. Hopefully, all stakeholders are able to answer the challenge of Indonesian democracy in order to create a more prosperous Indonesia.

The writer is a researcher at the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC) at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University (UIN), Jakarta.