Indonesia And Role In Asia-Pacific - Essay Example

However democratization process since the removal of President Suharto has been keenly observed and followed by the international community. During this historic period as Indonesia moves from thirty-two years of authoritarian rule to democracy, massive changes are required to lay the foundation for constitutional liberalism and a democratic political structure. The experiment has both been pleasant and agonizing for the people. The entire country is in a state of turmoil since the removal of dictatorship.

It is because with political arena how open, many issues have jumped out of the box that had hitherto been closed by President Suharto's firm reign. Political, ethnic and religious and regional conflicts have bubbled to the surface among many economic uncertainties. But those who are in support of democracy are seeing the silver lining in the form of freedom to choose. They are now in a position to elect their own leaders- something that an entire generation was denied. The people hope the politically restrictive policies will no longer come into play and Indonesia would emerge as a leader in Asia-Pacific region.

Once we have discussed the current political structure in the country, we shall discuss how this has been impacting Indonesia's role in the region. So far the situation in Indonesia's political structure has not been very encouraging. . Combine this with other changes such as the restoration of freedom of speech and association and a more liberated press, and you have a country seriously in transition. The best part is the reduced role played by the army, Tentera Nasional Indonesia, TNI, in the larger affairs of the country.

While these changes may appear too many too fast to an outsider, the people of Indonesia are frustrated with the gradual democratization process. Many feel that corruption is still a huge problem in the country2 It has also been found that no sincere effort is being made to solve old corruption cases and President Suharto has not been taken to task for his role in some serious cases.3 The common man on the street has not felt any economic change and ethnic conflicts are perpetually hurting the political and social fabric.

If we judge the performance of Megawati's government by Indonesian standards, we might not term it totally futile. It had been actually been strong enough to last longer than other regimes and had some consistent economic and political policies to follow. But according to one analyst, these policies: [.] resulted in socio-economic instability in the lives of ordinary, people: Employment uncertainty, price uncertainty, uncertainty of access to medicines and hospitals and to higher and vocational education.

At the present time, the causes of these uncertainties are not perceived to be the absence of a 'strong man' but of the prevalence of culture of self-enrichment, and of rivalry power and resources, among the old parties. (Lane, 2004) In April 2004, we witnessed the rather bizarre election results when a hung parliament made it clear that none of the