What the Chinese press say
WHILE Malaysian society is still embroiled in racial and religious disputes, a country separated by sea, not far from Malaysia – Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has appointed its first Chinese-Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama for its capital, Jakarta.
This can be regarded as a notable achievement following the country’s democratic reformation after the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998.
Last month, when Jakarta’s previous governor Joko Widodo was elected president, Basuki was given the chance to contest the vacant seat.
Despite facing fierce Muslim demonstrations and protests, Basuki was still able to take the oath, witnessed by Joko, as Jakarta’s new governor.
From local to direct presidential elections and to limiting the presidential term of office and from the first woman president (Ibu Megawati) to a civilian president (Joko) –these are all the results — since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship – that have been achieved through the lifting of the ban on political parties, restoration of media freedom and implementation of decentralization and democratization.
Of course, the process had had its share of twists and turns and ups and downs. It was not plain sailing.
For instance, during the Indonesian parliament meeting in September this year, the local leaders abolished direct elections. But overall, political democratization in Indonesia, including media freedom and autonomy, has shown positive signs.
In 1998, peninsular Malaysia was also facing political agitation. Regarded as the successor of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was removed from his post and the party.
His subsequent arrest sparked the birth of the Reformasi Movement, setting off a “wave” of calls for reforms.
These paved the way to the “308” elections in 2008 and “505” elections in 2013, and impacted on the BN government at the federal level.
Compared to Indonesia, Malaysia’s democratic reforms – although they have not stagnated – have not brought about many structural changes.
For example, we still have not truly recovered from the abolition of local council elections which was effected during the Confrontation period in the 1960’s.
If we cannot resolve this issue, then forget about fighting for local autonomy such as that in Indonesia where local autonomy has been granted by its central government.
As for freedom of speech, the media in Indonesia is not only flourishing, but also regarded as one of the Asian countries with a high degree of media freedom.
Because of this kind of freedom, the religious discourse in Indonesian society, especially in the public realm, is relatively tolerated.
Topics such as the Malay version of the bible are never a local issue.
Malaysia and Indonesia have close relations in the cultural, political and economic fields but on the path of democratic reforms, they have borne different fruits.