From The Jakarta Globe:
Yudi Latief, an analyst at Central Jakarta’s Freedom Institute, argued that the emergence of democracy gave Indonesian citizens greater freedom, but in doing so has allowed the wealthy to entrench their position while giving few opportunities for advancement to poorer people.
“Democracy in Indonesia has yet to create equality,” Yudi told a discussion hosted by the Yellow Forum for Young Leaders on Sunday. “Only the ones with power, and businesspeople, enjoy freedom. The common people still can’t enjoy freedom. They have become more marginalized due to the strong domination of the people with the power and capital.” The weekend event carried the theme: “The urgency to strengthen democracy in Indonesia.”
Yudi said that equality under the law should have paved the way to equality in development and widespread prosperity, but democracy in Indonesia instead widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
“This condition will lead to democracy destroying itself,” he said. “If [democracy] fails to create equality in due time, the democracy will be rejected and eliminated. So, it will destroy itself.”
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