Is Indonesia Really a Democracy?

| Evan A. Laksmana | 10 November 2009 |

Is Indonesia’s democracy really blooming? If you read the English-speaking press, you might think the answer is a resounding yes. Papers in London and New York have applauded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet picks and hailed his government as a post-authoritarian success story. Democracy is consolidating and the economy is growing, they say, thanks to Yudhoyono’s stewardship over the past five years. Why else would more than 60 percent of the electorate have voted for him in recent elections?

If you read the local press, however, a very different narrative emerges.

Filed under: Politics

Climate change is also defense and security problem

| Evan A. Laksmana | Jakarta, 2 November 2009 |

We are now only less than a month away from the UN summit on climate Change in Copenhagen to hammer out a new post-Kyoto deal to save the planet.

Meanwhile, recent reports show that in Southeast Asia, one of the most susceptible regions to climate change, more than 750,000 people have died between 1998 and 2009 from natural disasters.

Indonesia too will soon see firsthand the increases in the severity of drought, flooding, forest fires, rising sea level and extreme weather conditions.

Yet, with this impending disaster, the then defense minister Juwono Sudarsono said recently his department had no specific national security agenda for climate change.

Filed under: Civil-Military Relations, Defense Management

New house, new rules?

| Evan A. Laksmana | Jakarta, 24 October 2009 |

There were hardly any major surprises when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally announced his Cabinet line-up on Wednesday night.

Still, analysts remain puzzled by his choice of Dr Purnomo Yusgiantoro (picture), the previous Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, for the country’s top defence post.

For one thing, although he once had a brief stint as vice-governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), Dr Yusgiantoro’s educational and professional background is mainly in the mining and energy sector.

For another, the challenges surrounding Indonesia’s defence sector are increasingly complex. They range from the decaying state of operational readiness and lack of budgetary support to the rapidly-changing regional military balance of power.

Filed under: Civil-Military Relations, Politics