By: Sandeep Chakravorty, Ambassador of India to Indonesia
Jakarta, 13 February 2024 – As Indonesia goes to the polls for electing a new President and members of the legislatures, it gives me special delight as the Ambassador of the largest democracy in the world to congratulate the people and government of Indonesia on this extremely significant occasion. Over more than quarter of a century, Indonesia has proven to its people and the world the efficacy of the democratic system with peaceful transfer of power and inclusive politics. Democracy in Indonesia is a source of regional and global stability and a force for peace in the world. As countries are democratic at home, their voice of reform of the international system and calls for peace hold greater credibility and acceptance.
2024 is indeed a special year- it is the biggest election year in the world’s history. Several democratic countries are organising elections for their governments to receive the mandate of almost half the world’s population. In democracies the power resides with people, they are the sole arbiters of the destiny of a nation. There is always a lurking attraction of jettisoning the democratic path and adopting other systems of governance on tenuous grounds of better governance and economic gains. However, countries around the world, and very prominently Indonesia and India have proven that for pluralistic and diverse countries, the democratic pathway is the real road to inclusive and sustainable development.
We all have watched with great fascination the campaigning for the Presidential elections with candidates articulating their own policies and differences with others with great deal of honour and respect. The presidential and vice-presidential debates on television have been master classes on public communication and civil debate, hallmark of matured democracies. Remarkably and not surprisingly at all, the youth have been active participants in the process and have used their adroitness with social media and other creative arts to great impact. This is largely also because Indonesia is harvesting the benefits of the demographic dividend and the politics of the day has a role in deciding the future of the youth. Talking to youth and common people, one easily discerns great deal of knowledge about the electoral processes and the candidates. The Indonesian electorate is well informed and desirous of expressing their choice. This has been the invisible yet tangible gain of years of democratisation of the country.
One also notices a tendency in some quarters to decry the importance of elections as not being a critical democratic attribute, while ascribing greater value to other attributes such as freedom of speech. However, one cardinal truth is that without elections, peaceful and inclusive, there cannot be democracy and other concomitant attributes will not flourish. Freedom of speech, free media, and freedom to practice faith can only be guaranteed in democracies, which cannot come into existence without elections and peaceful transfer of power. It is the single most or perhaps the most important characteristic of any democracy.
Organising open, fair and transparent elections on such a scale is an extraordinary feat. I congratulate the efforts of the Election Commission of Indonesia for the gigantic efforts it has made in both voter education and organising the elections in an archipelagic country where logistics is a huge challenge. The Indonesian elections are undoubtedly the most complex of elections held anywhere in the world. It is held on a single day involving an electorate of about 204 million voters who will elect more than 20,000 national and regional representatives. The voters are spread over thousands of islands and each one has to be provided a reasonable opportunity to vote in the more than 800,000 polling stations that have been established. Not only within the country, the Indonesian diaspora also has the opportunity to vote at their Embassies abroad, a most creditable feat indeed. With high voter turnout, more than 80% was recorded in 2019, conducting elections in Indonesia is truly a mammoth exercise.
Indonesia is the world’s third largest democracy and along with India and the US represents the aspirations of almost two billion people under a democratic framework. In fact, these three countries prove that democracy does not hold any special affinity for any race and religion and is enthusiastically adopted by all. India is majority Hindu, the US is majority Christian whereas Indonesian has a Muslim majority, yet the enthusiasm for adherence of democratic values and practices is shared by all. A democratic polity protects rights of minorities and women. In both Indonesia and India we have witnessed the inexorable empowerment of women. Today, Indonesia has 30% reservation of seats for women in legislatures and India has enacted the 106th Constitution Amendment Act in September 2023 reserving 33% seats for women in legislatures.
Democracy is not only a political framework to bring people together but is also a suitable mechanism to deliver the fruits of development to the people who live in pluralistic societies. No system is perfect and perhaps achieving perfection is beyond the human realm. However, as current systems go, there is widespread recognition that a democratic polity and a regulated free market economy bring the maximum material and non-material good to their peoples. Democracies engender enterprise and innovation and encourage the free spirit of the human to soar. It is no wonder that the most exciting global Startup ecosystems prevail in the democracies of the world. Just as the world’s most renowned artists, craftspersons, designers, sportspersons or entrepreneurs are gift to the world of democracies.
Kant’s democratic peace theory postulates that to attain peace, States must first be democratic. Values enshrined in the liberal democratic framework ensure promotion of peace and democratic States do not go to war with each other. The world has seen a relatively peaceful international system in the post Cold War era, which is now under great geo-political strain. However, the solution to this is not in retreat from democratic principles but more democracy for people at home and in the international system. That is why democracy and elections in Indonesia is so important for the world. The ‘Pesta Demokrasi’ is a cause for celebration not only for Indonesia but for democracy and peace lovers all over the globe. 1.4 billion Indians who will also be celebrating elections soon rejoice and take great pride in this Indonesian festival.