Building Political Civility

The decline of Indonesian democracy, they say, is due to the decreasing freedom of aspirations, along with the rise of despotic and transactional oligarchies.

Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo

Motorcyclists cross a racist campaign mural during the General Election which is depicted on Jalan Dukuh Atas, Jakarta, Friday (19/6/2020).

”So let’s begin anew [...] remembering on all sides that [political] civility is not a sign of weakness [...] Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let us explore what [things] unite us [...] instead of those problems divide us.” —(John F Kennedy, ”Inaugural Address”, 20/1/1961)

Twenty-three years after the wave of democratization in 1998, Indonesia\'s democracy has not yet been consolidated. This bitter phenomenon is highlighted by “Indonesianis” (experts focusing on Indonesian issues), political scientists, observers and activists who said this has something to do with a decline in democracy.