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read with great interest the opinion article “Confrontation or Cohabitation?” in the May 27, 2019 edition of The Jakarta Post.

I stand with Ambassador Imron Cotan in calling out presidential candidate pair Prabowo Subianto and Sandiaga Uno on their Trumpian tactics in persistently trying to delegitimize the General Elections Commission (KPU), prior to and immediately following its announcement of the election results.

United States President Donald Trump would be very proud to learn that his election-rigging rhetoric has inspired right-wing politicians in Indonesia, the largest democracy with a majority Muslim demographic. Even after winning the electoral vote, Trump has continued with his attempts to delegitimize the results of the popular vote, which he lost.

Constitutional democracy is still taking root in Indonesia, but is already winning the fight against the global epidemic of right-wing populism.

Truly, democrats around the world have every reason to be concerned about how this young and vibrant democracy, with upward of 80 percent voter turnout, is coping with the unholy alliance between Trumpism and radical sectarianism.

The battle hasn’t been easy and will likely continue well into the next election cycle. But for now, the Indonesian experience should offer an important lesson for the democratic world, and to the US no less: Trumpism can be defeated.

I also second Ambassador Imron’s call for a dignified solution. He has suggested cohabitation — a well-known approach to democratic compromise that even has a Wikipedia entry. Another well-known political concept in democracies is concession.

Anies Baswedan, who was the spokesman of the 2014 Jokowi campaign, borrowed from the pre-Trump US democratic staple when he tweeted in 2013 that the losing candidate conceding to the winning candidate was essential to the success of any democracy. I completely agree with the Fulbright scholar and the current governor of Jakarta.

Let me be clear: Free and fair elections, the first pillar of democracy, are not to be taken for granted. Inciting riots and making xenophobic calls for violence have absolutely no place in a democracy and cannot be justified as a way of venting frustration. Instead of pursuing the constitutionally prescribed means of resolving election disputes peacefully from the outset, the loser (re)turned to racketeering.

Some people don’t change.

I concur with the ambassador: A functional democracy should not operate on the basis of “winner takes all”. Contrariwise, it must never operate on the basis of a racketeering loser compelling the victor to betray the voters’ wishes — not ever.

The 44.5 percent deserves to be heard, just as much as the 55.5 percent deserves to be represented and governed by a leader of their choosing. Finally, the 100 percent deserves to live in harmony and without fear.

No democracy can operate without the consent of the governed. Absent of constitutional processes, nations are doomed to an endless cycle of violence.

In an ideal world, the apparent loser would have offered their concession on election night. The least they could do is refrain from declaring victory when all indicators clearly signaled otherwise.

That ship has sailed.

Or has it?

While our democracy is undoubtedly precocious, it appears that it still needs time to fully mature. This is incumbent upon the defeated challenger offering electoral concession before we can expect the winning pair to even consider consenting to cohabitation. Nonconsensual cohabitation is rape; coerced cohabitation is undemocratic. It will set a precedent for hegemony of racketeers and must therefore never be encouraged.

As a proponent of democracy, I am an optimist — we will keep up the fight against the monsters that feed on fear and hatred. After all, what better way to defend democracy than standing up for it.

This is the month for reflection, a season for reconciliation. The time is always ripe to do the right thing. It’s never too late to be the Indonesia we have always been: a republic for posterity. Let us all join Ambassador Cotan in calling for consensual cohabitation — a government for the 100 percent.

But first, concession.