Q&A: Freedom of Expression Behind Indonesian Democratic Advances

• Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia (bangkok)
• Monday, April 27, 2009
• Inter Press Service

July will offer the world’s most populous Muslim country another step to forge ahead, as the regional giant will conduct its second presidential poll where the voters will directly choose the country’s leader. Such rights were denied during the 30-years of the Suharto dictatorship, which fell over a decade ago.

The frontrunner is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who announced over the weekend his aim to seek a second term in office during the mid- 2009 elections. Yudhoyono’s chances have been boosted by the impressive performance of his centrist Democrat Party - which secured over 20 percent of the seats during parliamentary polling, making it the biggest party in the new legislature.

Indonesia’s successful democratic transformation since the fall of the Suharto regime lies in the immense freedom of expression that prevails, said former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid in an interview with IPS. 'This is the most encouraging thing for us.'

‘Gus Dur,’ as he is better known at home, was Indonesia’s president from 1999 to 2001. His endorsement by the legislature was widely hailed by moderates, progressives and human rights activists for his record as a political reformer with an inclusive vision.

His path to the presidential palace had been paved by his role as the long- time leader of Nahdlatul Ulema, the country’s largest moderate independent Islamic organisation, with a membership of some 30 million people in a country of some 224 million people.

Yet the 68-year-old former president, who has lost his sight, admits that Indonesia’s democratic journey is threatened by corruption and the presence of radical Islamic movements that undermine the country’s spirit of tolerance.

As worrying, admits Gus Dur, is the effort by former senior military officers with notorious human rights records to enter the political fray in the quest for power. One singled out for criticism was Lt. Gen (ret) Prabowo Subiyanto, who headed the country’s Special Forces in the late 1990s and was allegedly linked to attacks and kidnappings of student activists.

IPS correspondent Marwaan Macan-Markar interviewed former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid in his room at a Bangkok hospital.

IPS: Indonesia has emerged as the most promising democracy in Southeast Asia, which few predicted after the end of the Suharto dictatorship a decade ago. There was even talk at the time that the country would splinter and follow the route of former Yugoslavia. What contributed to such an achievement?

Abdurrahman Wahid: Freedom of expression is the main reason. Everyone was given the right to express his own opinion. This was reflected in the media. This is the most encouraging sign for us. But the problem with us now is that the political system is so corrupt. And all kinds of encouragement we have as a result of the freedom of the press can more or less be cancelled by this problem.

IPS: How about the Indonesian army? Do you think the political reforms introduced over the past decade - some while you were president - to limit the army’s role in politics have been a success?

AW: Not completely. There is a problem. Now we have people like Prabowo - a former military general - who is active in politics. But I think that in the future the military’s role will be limited as the people learn who they are.

IPS: What gives you such confidence?

AW: The military continues to use the old ‘has-beens,’ so they don’t have fresh people, fresh ideas.

IPS: Decentralisation of power has been a hallmark of Indonesia’s democracy. But has more power to local authorities achieved the desired results?

AW: It has been a very important step, but the problem is that these authorities don’t know how to establish non-military local autonomy. Sometimes, they just work together with the military. So whatever has been gained is sometime lost.

IPS: But there are other worries about the new local authorities. They are giving way to the pressure of extreme Islamic views, undermining the rights of women in some cases. Will this spread?

AW: There is no fear of this spreading. In the future all these biased organisations will be forced to change or give up. Because our constitution demands that the freedom of expression and other freedoms must be observed.

IPS: Yet, the reality suggests otherwise even in the parliament. Last year the parliament passed the anti-pornography law with the push of Islamic parties and other conservative elements in the national secular parties. The people of Bali and elsewhere felt it was an attack on their culture.

AW: That created a reaction, a strong reaction that there was a need to expand the space for freedoms and rights of our constitution. I was against that law. I am against any law that limits people’s rights and powers. Everybody has to be treated equally and under the same rules.

IPS: Is the organisation you once headed, Nahdlatul Ulama, secure in its followers and the moderate Islamic views it espouses? Or, is it under threat from the more radical strands of Islam asserting themselves in your country?

AW: The [radical strands] will face defeat. It will take two to three years, because what we offer the people are based on beliefs that everybody is equal and free. That is the problem with the Wahabi influence from Saudi Arabia, the Iranians and the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt. They fight for the wrong issues.

IPS: What is your political future? A presidential candidate again?

AW: The political parties and the current government won’t let me be a candidate. They have put many obstacles in my path, including saying that I cannot see.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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