Editorial:
Real and false democracy

The outcome of the Indonesian elections is another occasion on which 
those who have the larger vote stand to be denied government.

Over 34 per cent of the votes went to the Democratic Party of Struggle led 
by the daughter of Indonesia's first President, Megawati Sukarnoputri. But 
the next President of Indonesia is to be elected by an assembly of 
representatives of other parties and direct military appointees.

When the fascist dictatorship of Suharto was overthrown last year and 
Habibie was appointed in his place, it was apparent that Indonesia's ruling 
elite were playing for time to reorganise and hold on to power.

Even when the ruling circles were forced to agree to elections it was not 
to be assumed that they had suddenly been converted to democracy.

The Suharto regime came to power in a sea of blood in 1965. A military coup 
was launched against the democratic and revolutionary forces of which the 
Communist Party of Indonesia was a major part. The State was headed by 
Sukarno who adopted a strong anti-imperialist position and was among those 
world leaders who helped launch the Non-Aligned Movement.

The military coup launched a savage blood-letting in which an estimated 
500,000 people were murdered. Some had been in jail from that time to the 
present. Only recently have some of the jailed Communist Party members been 
released.

The fascist military coup was supported by the governments of the United 
States, Australia and a number of other countries who feared the emergence 
of an anti-imperialist type government in that very populous country. The 
Australian Government continued that support when the Indonesian Government 
invaded and annexed East Timor.

It is not surprising that the present Indonesian regime which was born in 
blood should still be attempting to hold on to power using the military 
against the people as in East Timor, Aceh, West Papua and elsewhere.

In addition they have so manipulated the electoral procedures to give them 
various devices by which they hope to hold on to power in the interests of 
the monied elite. Enormous wealth has been robbed from the Indonesian 
people by a small group in the more than 30 years of the Suharto 
dictatorship. Behind every government there stands a ruling class which 
controls the main levers of the economy, the state machine (the judiciary, 
the armed forces and police), the education system, the mass media and 
other arms of propaganda.

A constitution is written which has the aim of maintaining the existing 
ruling class in power. The electoral system is manipulated to achieve the 
result desired by and in the interests of the ruling class.

In Australia, the electoral system is slanted to maintain the two-party 
system and the single member electorates for the House of Representatives 
serve that purpose. But now, with substantial votes being won by parties 
outside the major parties, steps are being taken to change the electoral 
rules.

Should the electoral system, despite manipulation, result in a real threat 
to the rule of the capitalist ruling class, measures will be implemented to 
do away with even the limited forms of democratic expression and election 
that presently exist.

In Indonesia, the ruling class is very active by means of pressure and 
bribery to deny Megawati any opportunity to become the next President of 
Indonesia. Behind the manoeuvres stands the Indonesian military which has 
shown on a number of occasions that it is prepared to spill the blood of 
hundreds of thousands of the Indonesian people to keep in power the present 
ruling class.

Democracy is often assumed to exist when a number of political parties 
stand candidates in an election. However, there are many examples to prove 
that the existence of a number of parties running in an election is no 
guarantee that the wishes of the people will be carried out.

There is much more real democracy (meaning the participation of the people 
in government, in social life and in the economy) in Cuba, which has a one-
party system, than there is in Australia or Indonesia where over 40 parties 
participated in the recent elections. But then, Cuba is a socialist 
country.