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Monday 28 January 2013

[wanita-muslimah] Majority’s Tyranny

03:29  BUDI WIBOWO  No comments

 

 
 

Writer's Block: Majority's Tyranny
Desi Anwar | January 26, 2013

It's heartening that the president has appealed to the people for greater tolerance and not to ignore the voices of the minorities in this democratic and pluralistic country of ours. "What is the type of democracy we are building in the life of this nation which is pluralistic and diverse?" he asked. However, as the president, this is exactly the kind of question he needs to address himself.

In a diverse and democratic country, issues of tolerance, discrimination, pluralism and the protection of minorities, should not be fodder for pretty speeches, topics for intellectual discourse nor emotional appeal to the higher sensibilities of the people, but laid out in concrete boundaries that govern the behavior of every person that is a citizen of the country. As democracy, being for the most part representing the rule of the majority, is often an unsuitable environment for diversity to flourish. Especially when the majority has a monochromic vision of the world.

And I really do think that we humans, left to ourselves, are inherently intolerant. We're intolerant, to different degrees, of most things that don't conform to our taste, belief, expectation, values and standard of normalcy. We're uncomfortable when in proximity of people who look different from us, wear different clothes, eat different food, act in manners strange to us and speak a language that is not ours. Those not belonging to our group might as well be aliens from outer space. They may be exotic and exciting when viewed from afar, but a threat and bother when we have to share space with them.

Thus, while a working democracy allows eligible citizens to have an equal say in decisions that affect their lives, such as through elections and referendums, much of the way we look at the world is determined by our beliefs, prejudices, culture, habits and attitude that are anything but equal. We look down at the poor, we are suspicious of those from different races and ethnicities, we pity the disabled and the weak, we reject people who don't conform to our values. Women and minorities are often dismissed as second-class citizens and thus not privy to equal rights because, even as all animals are equal, some are more equal than others.

And then there is religion, whose role in democracy can also be the most pernicious. The institution with built-in intolerance and discrimination that governs the action of the faithful that lives by it. Left to its own device, it can grow like cancer and will devour the democratic flesh it feeds on, leaving no room for others to thrive. Only those who are of the same religion and adhere to the dogmas and tenets prescribed by religious leaders, are considered equal. Others, who are not candidates to the kingdom of heaven, followers of other religions, non-believers and ungodly folks, religious minorities and other heathens, heretics and infidels, are looked upon as unwelcome blights in their midst.

There is no point, therefore, in asking the opinion of the majority on issues that are of interest to the minority. Persecution will invariably be the result, whether in the suppression of Ahmadiyah, the Shia, the closing down of churches, the veiling and domestication of women and the intervention in how to run one's life from the length of the skirt to how to sit on a motorcycle. Even in the most enlightened and democratic society, a referendum on things that are seen as deviating from the norm, such as the presence of minarets in a largely Christian society, will meet with a resounding rejection.

Hence, rather than empty rhetoric on the merits of tolerance and call for harmony, what is needed are clear rules and regulations that protect the basic rights of the individual as a human being and citizen of the country regardless of ethnicity, sex and religious beliefs, and strong action against those who violate them.

This is not something that the leader should appeal for, but act upon. Otherwise the type of democracy we have is one that is based not on equality, but on the tyranny of the majority.

 

Desi Anwar is a senior anchor at Metro TV and can be reached at desianwar.com or dailyavocado.net

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