Why US democracy is a source of inspiration, and derision for Indonesians

When Indonesian President Joko Widodo joined other world leaders in offering US President-elect Joe Biden his congratulations on social media, he wrote that he looked forward to strengthening the cooperation between the two countries on "the economy, democracy and multilateralism".

Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, in trademark Javanese fashion of being indirect and employing euphemisms, put his greatest concern last.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has watched warily as Washington under President Donald Trump has isolated itself by pulling out of multilateral agreements hammered out by his predecessor, notably the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Paris Climate Agreement, to which Indonesia is a signatory. Indonesia hopes to join the 11-country TPP, which came to life as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, at a future date.

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Like the rest of the world, Indonesians followed the US presidential election with keen interest. When Trump prematurely declared he had won re-election and tried to undermine the electoral process by alleging "fraud" on national television, Indonesians experienced a sense of deja vu.

Back in 2014, Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, unfazed by the vote counting which looked increasingly unfavourable to him, claimed victory on national television. When the Electoral Commission declared against him, he made the accusation that the election had been rigged and threatened chaos in the streets. On social media, numerous people made comparisons of both men.

Similarly, the scenes of shops and businesses in Washington having their facades boarded up ahead of the election in anticipation of riots were all too familiar. Indonesia regularly bears witness to its politics ruled by primordial sentiments such as religion and race rather than reason and the cult of personality trumping - excuse the pun - policies, occasionally marred by mob rule.

While educated Indonesians at times feel embarrassed about the quality of their volatile democracy, this year's US election has been a wake-up call to show the extent of shenanigans that can take place in supposedly mature democracies.

It is a far cry from the time when the United States was admired by many Indonesians as a beacon of hope. During the country's colonial era, when it was still known as the Netherlands East Indies, independence activists looked to the US, the rising superpower, as the least imperialistic Western nation that championed democracy and an international order based on the rule of law.

Indonesia's Prabowo Subianto, who like Trump made a premature claim of victory in a presidential election. Photo: AP

While no self-respecting Indonesian nationalist would concede that Indonesia's founding fathers wanted the new nation to become like the US, it is an interesting coincidence that, when Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945, they chose the Garuda or eagle as state emblem. The Garuda also bears the national motto in Sanskrit Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), which is of similar though not identical meaning to America's motto E Pluribus Unum (Out of many, one).

More importantly, the US played a pivotal role in ensuring independence for Indonesia. By 1948, following two military campaigns, the Dutch, refusing to acknowledge the 1945 Proclamation of Independence, had regained control of Indonesia's major cities and captured President Sukarno and Vice-President Mohammad Hatta in the process. The new republic was on the brink of annihilation.

The US, furious that the Netherlands was frittering away monetary aid via the Marshall Plan on a colonial venture, insisted that The Hague continue its negotiation with Indonesian leaders, and threatened to stop aid altogether. This ultimately led to the Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty in 1949.

Many Indonesians today will point out that the country, like the US, fought a war to gain its independence - and did not have it granted, as, say, its neighbour Malaysia did. The real picture, though, is much more complex since in the end Indonesia's independence was won at the negotiation table.

Indonesia went on to borrow from the American system when it came to elections. After decades under the dictator Suharto, who fell in 1998, it held its first direct presidential election in 2004. It was partly inspired by the US presidential system, though it relies on having a more democratic, popular vote count rather than the Electoral College system.

The number of popular votes Jokowi got last year in excess of what Biden received was also a point of pride - he got 85. 6 million votes in the 2019 presidential poll, as opposed to Joe Biden's projected 78.7 million.

There has been a mixed reception to Biden's victory. Many see Barack Obama's former vice-president as potentially delivering more of the same policies as his former boss. Indonesians tend to see the Obama period as one of great hypocrisy by the US, during which the US lectured others on democracy but continued to wage wars in foreign lands such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

As for Trump, Muslims in Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, view him negatively. They see him as anti-Muslim because of some of his tweets and his ban on travel to the US from predominantly Muslim countries. It was therefore to their great bemusement when US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during his visit to Indonesia days before the US election, pontificated against "Communist and Atheist China" for its human rights abuses against its Uygur Muslim ethnic minority.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, Indonesia. Photo: EPA

Neither is Trump popular among the country's liberals and civil society activists. The president's "America First" policy translated into a drying up of US financial aid for Indonesian NGOs that promoted democracy, human and minority rights.

Trump, however, fared better with Indonesia's business community. Many business leaders whose enterprises cover Southeast Asia expected a windfall from the president's trade war with China as businesses relocated from China to the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region.

Indonesians will undoubtedly continue to follow American politics closely for inspiration, but sometimes with derision. They hope the Biden administration will succeed in unifying today's polarised US. Here at home, they too are feeling deepening divides as a tug of war between Islamist and secular aspirations, between Jokowi's supporters (known derogatorily as cebong or tadpoles) and his conservative Muslim critics (known as kadrun or desert lizards), continues.

Johannes Nugroho is a writer and political analyst from Surabaya, Indonesia

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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