Indonesia’s Democratic Survival and International Linkages

Picture: Voices of dissent - Students hold a rally on Feb. 17 titled “Indonesia Gelap” (Dark Indonesia) to oppose budget-cutting policies by President Prabowo Subianto in front of the East Java Regional House of Representatives building in Surabaya. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)

In an op-ed article by The Jakarta Post, Edbert Gani Suryahudaya discusses how the government has shown an increasing willingness to employ authoritarian tactics, a trend that pro-democracy activists ahve warned about for years.

The consequences of abandoning USAID cannot be overstated. Beyond its broad political goal of promoting democracy, which is a mission that scholar Larry Diamond has described as fundamentally bipartisan, the agency’s work, despite accounting for just around 1 percent of the federal budget, has been indispensable in supporting development projects across the Global South. Foreign aid has improved healthcare systems, strengthened civil society and supported economic growth in ways that have tangible effects on people’s lives.

Its sudden disappearance threatens to undermine not just governance but basic survival for millions. At a political level, the withdrawal of US support for democratization will embolden authoritarian regimes at a time when democratic backsliding is already accelerating. Many developing countries, including Indonesia, stand to suffer in the immediate and medium term.