David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

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Tuesday 14 April, 2009

Democratic Indonesia

It is ten years since the downfall of President Suharto of Indonesia - who ruled for 32 years without concern for democratic mandate - and the inauguration of democratic rule. Judging by the parliamentary elections at the weekend the institutions of democracy are in good health.  As the world's fourth most populous country - 240 million people living on 17,000 islands - and the world's largest Muslim nation, the experience of the last decade is a good rebuff to the argument that democratic institutions are incompatible with Muslim or Asian values.
 
I spoke with President Yudhoyono when he interrupted campaigning to come to the London Summit, and his vision of Indonesia leading a low carbon revolution as well as democratic evolution is attractive.  It makes Indonesia a prime UK partner, and our rising trade and strong political partnership reflect that

Posted at 14:37 14 April 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

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One hopes you asked him about war criminals still on the government's payroll, as some suggest, with credible evidencem is the case, Better to maintain adiiplomatic silence rather than a blog

Posted by pauliggins on April 14, 2009 at 07:14 PM BST #

And elsewhere in Asia, how about a democratic Tibet? Still not a word.

Posted by OwenE2 on April 14, 2009 at 11:13 PM BST #

paulgiggins and OwenE2 - you don't have to look as far as Indonesia to see war criminals at large and the stifling of democracy; try looking closer to home... a lot closer to home.

Posted by Paul E on April 15, 2009 at 09:41 PM BST #

Dear David, let me start my comment by interpret your last sentences first for they reduce your very good report to a common denominator. President Yudhoyono has really outstanding visions for Indonesia,"a low carbon revolution",a "democratic evolution" etc., which could also be a good model for other Asian/ASEAN-States. Therefore, not only Indonesia will surely become a prime U.K. partner in trade and strong political partnership. I also share your opinion that democratic values are compatible with Muslims or Asian institutions. To conclude this comment:If it's only 10 years ago since the inauguration of democratic rules in Indonesia it's incredible of what they have achieved. Best wishes, Ingo-Steven Wais

Posted by Ingo-Steven Wais on April 16, 2009 at 04:31 PM BST #

If you want Indonesia and Africa to be low carbon. Please stop importing garden furniture and doors made of Teak, Maranti and other rainforrest timber. To the west there are many alternatives to using these products. It is sad that many of the Timber extraction companies that are levelling rainforrests in Africa are European. We can well do without this valuable timbers. The natives of these countries use far less of their own timber than we do.

Posted by dingiri on April 17, 2009 at 07:47 PM BST #

In western so-called democracies, power is not truly with the people; it is with the media masters who get to mould the minds of the masses, and with the business and financial elites who fund the major parties. These unaccountable elites set the agenda, which stays the same whoever is nominally ‘in power’. The masses are conned with pointless elections, while denied a say on issues that really matter the Lisbon Treaty anyone?. So it’s no wonder beneficiaries of this phoney system such as DM want to see it extended all over the world. DM might expect his underlings at the FCO to care about whether Indonesians get to have elections or not, but there’s really no good reason for the rest of us Brits to get excited about it.

Posted by Albert Perrier on April 19, 2009 at 06:10 PM BST #

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