T

he prolonged democratic process marking the presidential election, which concluded when the Constitutional Court upheld the electoral victory of Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, has moved Indonesia closer to political maturity.

Acts of violence involving supporters of the competing candidate pairs have been minimal, despite the acrimony, hostility and perhaps even hatred between them during the course of the race.

There was indeed one incident when the police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse hundreds of people who were forcing their way to hold a rally outside the court, defying the security cordon. The police'€™s tough measure was simply a standard operating procedure and there was no excessive use of force of the kind that rampantly occurred in the past, such as the crackdowns on protesters in the aftermath of a demonstration.

Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa should be credited for taking their dissatisfaction with the election results to the court as opposed to resorting to other ways that could have derailed this country'€™s hard-won democracy. But Prabowo'€™s apparent reluctance to accept his defeat, despite the fact that the court'€™s verdict is final and binding, casts doubt over his commitment to democracy.

Quite often during this election process, Prabowo has broken his own word. During the campaign, he repeatedly emphasized his readiness to either win or lose, and lashed out at his rival for not uttering the same cliché even once. However, after a number of credible pollsters revealed Jokowi and Kalla'€™s victory, Prabowo opted to wait for the official result from the General Elections Commission (KPU). But when the KPU declared Jokowi and Kalla the winning pair, Prabowo challenged the decision.

Now, having exhausted all available efforts to overturn his defeat, Prabowo is seeking other legal measures to delegitimize the people'€™s mandate for Jokowi. Via his Facebook page, Prabowo says he respects the Constitutional Court'€™s verdict but insists that justice has not been done, which basically means he does not accept the ruling, sending a signal to his supporters that the fight must go on.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, Jokowi'€™s kingmaker in the 2014 presidential election, lost to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the 2004 and 2009 elections and also challenged both her defeats at the Constitutional Court. However, she short stopped of questioning the court'€™s ruling, although she has never congratulated Yudhoyono and has frozen all ties with him.

One good lesson that the presidential election, and perhaps Prabowo, has taught us is that the people are surprisingly more mature in practicing democracy than the elite.

Life returned to normal and the political excitement cooled down at the grassroots level as soon as people had exercised their right to vote on July 9. It was the losing political elite, however, who has consistently denied the general perception that the election was conducted in a free and fair manner.

Now that the '€œfiesta of democracy'€ is finally over, the people cannot wait for the country'€™s new leaders to strengthen democracy by delivering on their campaign promises.