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University President Is Upbeat On Democracy In Indonesia

Visiting scholar at Stanford describes democracy in the world's largest majority-Muslim country, where recent elections found that 78 percent of Indonesians believe that democracy is in accord with Islam.

With news of the “Arab Spring” making headlines, an Indonesian university president described how his country is faring 13 years after overthrowing an authoritarian regime. Anies Baswedan, president of Paramadina University in Jakarta, spoke at Stanford’s Encina Hall Wednesday.

His talk,Does Democratization Imply Islamization?  Lessons from Democratic Indonesia, the World’s Largest Majority-Muslim Country,” was sponsored by the Freeman-Spogli Institute and the Stanford Humanities Center.

Baswedan was introduced by Donald Emmerson, director of the Southeast Asia Forum, as “a young nationalist with a global view … who could be a future president of Indonesia.” Foreign Policy named Baswedan one of the world’s top 100 public intellectuals in 2008.

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Indonesia is home to 300 ethnic groups with 700 spoken languages. Nearly 90 percent of its 238 million people are Muslim, and 50-60 million of them are traditionalist, said Baswedan.

After winning its war of independence from the Netherlands in 1949, Indonesia grappled with the issue of its identity as a republic. Elections in 1955 showed an even split between those who wanted a secular state and those who favored an Islamic state.

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Baswedan described the five principles of Panchasila, the philosophical foundation of Indonesia that was introduced by Sukarno, its first president:

  1. Belief in the one and only God
  2. Just and civilized humanity
  3. Unity of Indonesia
  4. Democracy through representative consensus-building
  5. Social justice for all Indonesians

Sukarno abolished democracy in 1959 and until 1965 ruled under “guided democracy.” General Suharto took over to fight against the Communists and won support from the West and from Indonesian Islamists. He neutralized the government from political parties and for more than three decades conducted very predictable elections. After his ouster in 1999, Islamic and secular parties have sprung up.

In recent elections, the secular parties have made significant gains, and 78 percent of Indonesians believe that democracy is in accord with Islam; only 8 percent believe that democracy conflicts with Islam. Baswedan asserted that support for Islamic parties decreased, because people were concerned with issues other than religion.

He said that combating corruption continues to be the biggest challenge, as it has been since colonial times. 

According to Baswedan, “As long as there is openness, transparency and freedom of media, people will reject Islamic rule.” He strongly believes that democracy must deliver and law enforcement must follow democratization. He calls upon leaders of the religious camp to take a courageous stand and assert that a secular state is acceptable.

Baswedan is at Stanford this month through the International Visitors Program sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He was nominated by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.

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