http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/04/01/indonesia%E2%80%99s-cryptic-conservatism.html
Indonesia's cryptic conservatism
Pierre Marthinus, St Andrews, UK | Fri, 04/01/2011 10:23 AM | Opinion
Repeated assaults on religious minorities under the banner of religious piety have persuaded many - both at home and abroad - to question the current trajectory of Indonesian democracy and multiculturalism.
Public condemnations are plentiful yet are too divergent to contribute anything feasible to our distressed policy makers as a remedial response.
Whether the problem is mainly social, cultural, political, institutional or religious (either in practice or interpretation) is obviously still the topic of a heated debate.
In light of these events, a recent response from the presidential special staff on international relations argued that the archipelago is far from being a "failed state", by citing its economic progress and rising international presence in numerous multilateral organizations (Kompas, Feb. 20).
The Cabinet secretary reacted toward the failed state discourse, saying that the government and institutions should boycott advertising in overly critical media until such media "improved themselves".
Recurring waves of violence are fueled by what I called cryptic conservatism - a form of conservatism that tends to avoid external observation. There are three main pathologies that have enabled this state of camouflage.
First, Indonesia's political liberalization was neither preceded nor followed by the proper working of institutions.
Dysfunction means that institutions do continue to work, but their function deviates greatly from its initial purpose, role and authority. Several days prior to the attacks in Cikeusik and Temanggung, I pleaded for a review of the "role" of one of the current ministerial "posts" (The Jakarta Post, Feb. 2).
In the big picture, the recurring dysfunction is similar to the previous joint ministerial decree in 2008 and the mushrooming of problematic bylaws in some regions.
Furthermore, institutions central to the rule of law, especially the police and the judiciary, are not exempt from such deviations. This is dilemmatic because both seem to be losing their moral high ground. The "flawed legal framework" was identified as one of the illnesses faced by the government.
Paradoxically, quick-fix attempts to strengthen institutions (especially at a regional level, as done by numerous international donors) may increase the scale of dysfunction instead of remedying it. We may end up with more problematic laws minted through problematic institutions while mob-rule attempts to replace the problematic police and judiciary.
It is also important to avoid blanket statements and acknowledge that some parts of the police and some ministers are more effective and functional than others.
Second, political parties have not managed to accommodate rising conservatism within constitutional boundaries.
In itself, conservatism is neither good nor bad, but when it translates into manipulative politics, distorting lines of authority and accountability, the nation is left crippled with a political "food chain" instead of
a "chain of command" for its governance.
The declining popularity of Islamic political parties is often read by foreign observers as evidence that Indonesians are more secular, liberal, and "rational" - an entirely premature claim judging by the recent turn of events.
An impressive study by Tanuwidjaja (2010) argues that political Islam continues to play an important - if not central - role in politics. Interestingly, conservative votes did not transform into rational votes.
Instead, mainstream political parties scrambled for their share of conservative votes but failed to keep their accommodative practices within constitutional boundaries.
The study further identified the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party as two mainstream parties that catered to the conservative - and sometimes borderline anti-pluralist - segment of the political "market".
Lastly, political permissiveness is the sustaining norm. These ruling parties are reluctant to criticize controversial religious issues for fear of losing their electorate - therefore setting the norm.
In parliament, dissenting voices are muted on controversial issues such as education and pornography. Intellectuals are urged to maintain the inter-religious "harmony" by "thinking silently".
There are, of course, political parties that refuse to put up with such permissiveness.
In summary, institutional dysfunction, immersion with mainstream political parties, and the norm of permissiveness have caused both hard-line organizations (interpreting it as consent and support) and foreign observers (interpreting it as minor and separate incidents) to misread the political market.
Breaking the cycle of cryptic conservatism requires the correction of key institutional functions, accommodating conservatism only through constitutional means, and discarding the norm of political permissiveness.
The government seems to be well aware that the "failed state" discourse, especially in economic terms, was the impetus that recently brought down leaders elsewhere - hence the strong backlash toward media criticism. But the call for the media to be less critical is ironic because such permissiveness, as I explained above, was the exact reason why violence erupted in the first place.
Promises of strong actions alone will neither restore international confidence nor calm dissenting voices - unless they translate into action immediately.
Critics, painting the "dark and messy" picture of Indonesia, could quickly scare off investors but their silence will only sustain ineffective governance and condone further assaults on minority groups.
For public intellectuals, the idea that "silence is golden" is simply too expensive.
The writer is a fellow researcher at Pacivis, the School of International Relations at the University of Indonesia
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