Many observers feared the possible coalition between Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party and Megawati Soekarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar would kill the country’s young democracy.
The appointment of Megawati’s husband Taufik Kiemas as the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) chairman, which was supported by the Democratic Party (PD), displayed signs of such political cooperation. Similarly, the newly elected Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie did not refuse to collaborate with the President’s party.
The cooperation of the three largest parties is largely believed to diminish the checks and balances of the government - a fundamental aspect of democracy - due to the absence of an opposition party that was earlier played by the PDI-P, although many legislators have individually been more outspoken than their parties.
The cooperation of the three nationalist-secular parties, however, will raise hope for another important aspect of democracy: a respect for pluralism and the protection of minorities that some believe were disregarded during the President’s first term.
A substantive democracy needs to respect civil liberties, which among others includes the freedom of religion.
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