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Why businesses and investors should care about atrophying democracy
If we cannot lean on the proper rules of the game (the law), our lives will depend on the whims of the uncertain political world.
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Makassar Election Commission (KPU) officials tasked with updating voter lists (pantarlih) post a sticker on June 30, 2024, with the names of the voters in a house, after updating voter data for the 2024 simultaneous regional elections in Makassar, South Sulawesi. (Antara/Hasrul Said)
T
he decline in the quality of Indonesia’s democracy practically began in earnest in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second term in 2019. Recent developments, however, such as the resignation of Airlangga Hartarto from Golkar’s chairmanship, indicate an avalanche breaking down many pillars of Indonesian democracy, in this case strong and vibrant political parties. Thus, the possibility of the party changing is worrying, because in addition to other erosions of Indonesia’s democratic institutions, it would further damage the political party’s already abysmal record. However, despite their problems, political parties are still the main vehicles for politicians to work within the system.
In the 2024 election and even back in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial election, the most common refrain from the business community was the wish for stability and peace. Thus, many in the business community will side with the winner.
There is nothing wrong with that, business and commerce need a stable functioning government after all. In the 2017 gubernatorial election, things got very messy. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was by many measures an excellent bureaucrat. Yet, the politics surrounding his reelection campaign opened a Pandora’s box of primordial politics.
In 2017, Ahok’s fiery personality and combative attitude generated fear among the minority communities and the business community for the aforementioned reasons, in addition to traumas from the 1998 racial riots. Typically, minority-minded businessman like Jaya Suprana went on raising trepidation and anxiety in various forums.
Members of the more optimistic younger generations like me did not appreciate the sentiment. In 2017, I wrote that the gubernatorial election was a litmus test of Indonesia’s pluralism and multiculturalism. Implicitly believing that Indonesia’s tolerant and multicultural society will lead to voting based on capability and performance rather than primordial and parochial interests.
When Ahok lost and subsequently was imprisoned for alleged blasphemy, it did not mean that Indonesians are parochial and vote based on primordial sentiments.
The fact is, politics is complex, many issues can be manipulated and manufactured by politicians to serve their ends. Society and regular citizens are most often swayed by the whims of politicians and their games. Especially in the age of rapid social media and its machinations.
