“Paradox of Democratization: Indonesian Politics and Beyond” (Iwanami Press. 2013)

Jun Honna (Professor, College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University)

I am very happy and honored to be awarded the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize in 2015, with my book entitled Paradox of Democratization in Indonesia. I wish to express my deep gratitude to the Foundation and the members of the selection committee. My thanks also extend to many people who have supported the publication of this book in different stages.
The book is about democratic political change in Indonesia. Since 1998, the country has made a series of reforms arming to democratize the political system, which was dominated by the authoritarian government for more that three decades during the Suharto era. The post-Suharto democratic experiment in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, has brought the attention of international community. In early years, a reasonable concern was highlighted as we saw the growing assertiveness of separatist movements and the escalating religious/ethnic conflicts in some parts of the archipelago. The fear of national disintegration and political instability was gradually removed especially after 2004 when the people welcomed Yudhoyono as the country’s first directly elected president. A decade of Yudhoyono presidency has been praised for the success of democratic consolidation by the international community. Policy-makers and political leaders in the world now sing the praises of Indonesia’s stable democracy as a model for newly democratizing countries in the globe. Then, what is the ‘secret’ of Indonesia’s ‘success’? My book attempts to answer this question.
Based on my 20 years of fieldwork and interviews with key political players in Indonesia, the book attempts to describe detailed faces of power struggles among political elites with the new rule of the game, called ‘democracy’. I argue that it is very paradoxical to see how democratic political practices have strengthened the space for non-democratic predatory elites in Indonesia. Furthermore, Indonesia’s democracy became stable because it had never been challenged seriously by anti-democratic forces that had enjoyed wider politico-economic power during the Suharto era. Why so? The answer is simple: they do not see democracy today as a serious threat to their survival. This means that the stability of democracy in Indonesia is significantly obtained at the cost of embracing-rather than excluding-the political dark force. This is the ‘secret’ of Indonesia’s success in democratic stability and consolidation, I ague.
If so, the international community should be careful in praising the ‘success’ thoughtlessly. Such a message may please the dark force, which wants to sustain power under the current ‘stable democracy’, and can harm many civil society forces that have struggled to advance more substantial democratic reforms. As I wanted to send this message to the Japanese audience, this award became a great encouragement for me to keep doing research on Indonesia’s democratic prospects. Thank you very much.

Profile
1992, Graduate School of Public Administration at International Christian University in 1994, and Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at Australian National University where he obtained Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations in 1999. Since 2000, Honna has been teaching Southeast Asian Studies at College of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University. His major publications include: “Inside the Democrat Party: Power, Politics and Conflict in Indonesia’s Presidential Party,” South East Asia Research (Vol.20, No.4, December 2012, pp.473-490), Military Politics and Democratization in Indonesia (London: Routledge, 2003).