The 10th annual Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) wrapped up on Thursday evening with delegations from 106 countries and international organizations concluding that democracy played an important role in bringing prosperity to people and providing social justice.

Under the theme of “Does Democracy Deliver?” state leaders, ministers and other officials from democratic countries shared how the political system had helped them ensure greater participation of citizens in the decision-making process.

It has also helped countries that had just escaped from the dark shadow of colonialism to build their economies.

For instance, according to Suriname Manpower Minister Soewarto Moestadja, his country relied on a democratic system to rebuild itself brick by brick after it left the Netherlands to become an independent state in 1975. Although the system faced a serious challenge when the military took over the government in the 1980s, Suriname returned to democracy years later.

Moestadja said that since Suriname transformed into an independent country, the government faced challenges uniting people with various ethnic backgrounds, including Asians and Africans.

“However, until today, with a democratic system we are in the process of making our unity in diversity into a reality,” Moestadja told hundreds of delegates to the BDF, which was held at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten.

This year was the first time the BDF was held outside of Bali. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry moved the event from its usual place in Bali following the eruption of Mount Agung, which forced the temporary closure of Ngurah Rai International Airport. The event was also overshadowed by United States President Donald Trump’s public recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital and his plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi wore a Palestinian kaffiyeh as a scarf to show solidarity with the Palestinians when opening the BDF.

A recent study by the US-based Pew Research Center suggested that democracy is on a rising trend. The study found that by the end of 2016, 97 of 167 countries, 58 percent, with populations of at least 500,000 applied democratic systems in their governments and only 21, 13 percent, were autocracies.

It was a substantial increase from 1977 when only 35 of 143 countries, 24 percent, qualified as democracies.

Meanwhile, Minister for Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Habes Maaytah of Jordan, which held its first elections for legislative councils in 1992, said he believes that democracy is a necessary condition for building a modern civil state.

However, Maaytah said that democracy alone would not be enough as the biggest challenge for a country was to achieve welfare and meet citizens’ needs for education, health and equal opportunities. He said that Jordan was also affected by the war on terrorism and radicalization in the Middle East, as well as waves of asylum seekers and refugees. He said the country hosts 1.3 million Syrian refugees.

“But we keep believing there is no alternative to democracy, which is the only means that humanity has to improve people’s lives,” he said during a ministerial panel session.

Also taking part in the BDF were 100 students from 62 countries who convened a conference that provided them with an opportunity to share their views on democracy.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla in his opening statement said that Indonesia was an example of how democracy could bring concrete benefits of prosperity and peace to people.

“Indonesia has chosen democracy as the way of statehood and firmly believes that it is the best choice,” he said

In the chairman’s statement at the end of the event, Foreign Deputy Minister AM Fachir said that among the points raised in the event was that the basic requirements for a fully functioning democracy included separation of power, substantive elections and active civil society.

He added that democracy’s current challenges included terrorism and populism, which required intensive cooperation and elements of security, equality and social justice.

“Democracy is an evolving process that needs the commitment and determination of the people. So does democracy deliver? Yes, it delivers nationally, regionally and globally,” he said.

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