The US is the mother of modern democracy. Since its independence in
1776, the democracy of the US has been challenged many times by various
powerful internal narrow interests, who have tried to influence the
government for their own narrow interests.
The US civil society emerged during that time, and has been strengthened in spite of all these non-democratic attacks, but still it has to continually struggle with lobbying from narrow-interest groups.
The youngest democratic society of Indonesia can study a lot from the rich experience of civil society in the US. The US can
contribute a lot toward the strengthening of Indonesian democracy by
sharing its experiences in this area, with local policy makers, and by
empowering Indonesian civil society NGOs and initiatives.
The US administration can help the young democracy of Indonesia by sharing its rich experience in areas such as:
•How to protect the democracy from internal non-democratic powers,
•How to promote a society that adheres to the rule of law,
•How to improve public services that serve society faithfully, and
•How to enforce accountability in powerful institutions and figures.
If the US wants to strengthen the Indonesian democratic civil society,
it should not strengthen elements in Indonesian society that are
responsible for atrocities: These elements that never have regretted or
paid for their crimes.
The US under President Obama is going to defy the US law (Leahy Law)
which says that the entire Kopassus (Special Army unit) is banned from
receiving US military education or training, following allegations of
its involvement in a number of atrocities in restive provinces. The law
says the ban will only be lifted if the Indonesian government takes
adequate legal steps to prosecute implicated officers.
So far, not even one Kopassus ex-general has been fairly sued in
Indonesia. By 2009, the military, known by its Indonesian acronym TNI,
was told to relinquish its business interests under reform legislation,
but defied it.
History shows that collaboration between the US — or any other strong
power and armies, or army units in most of the third world — has almost
never strengthened democracy, but the opposite. Military officers
backed by Western powers have performed numerous anti-democracy coup
d’états around the third world, including the 1965 coup d’état.
I hope the rumors are not true — and the reality is that the US has
changed its attitude since Obama was elected. I hope the US will stop
its custom of weakening civil societies in the third world.
Ronen Skaletzky
Medan
