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Indonesia Has Demilitarization Lessons For Its Neighbors, Experts Say

Indonesia should share its experience with demilitarization with its regional neighbor Burma, where the ruling junta is concerned that democracy will only push them out of government, a Japanese academic said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a forum held as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Habibie Center, Jun Honna of Japan’s Ritsumeikan University said the Indonesian military’s defunct “dual function” during former President Suharto’s New Order era was what the Burmese military was now emulating.

“With the military’s soft-landing transition, only Indonesia can provide such an idea to Myanmar [Burma],” he said.

However, fellow panelist Bridget Welsh, from Singapore Management University, disagreed that the Burmese junta would be willing to follow Indonesia’s experience.

“I think they plan to hold on to power,” she said.

Other panelists included former US ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz, former German ambassador to Indonesia Heinrich Seemann and Niu Tiehang from the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. They said Indonesia’s experiences with democratization could be used as examples for states in the region undergoing similar transitions.

Honna said the emergence of pollsters was a democratic innovation that had played an important role in sustaining democracy in Indonesia.

Welsh said Indonesia could teach its neighbors that internal conflict was not necessarily a bad thing.

“It can bring about positive change,” she said.

The country’s “somewhat strained” relationships with its neighbors was partly a result of its freer press compared to some other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Welsh said.

“This adds to the tension that didn’t exist to the same degree during the Suharto and Mahathir eras,” she said.

She added that the critical role of the media was another lesson Indonesia could share.

“Some media outlets have become fairly market-driven and sometimes, some of the [TV] channels are more flash than substance, but there is still a very robust political and investigative press here,” she said.

Wolfowitz, who served as US ambassador during the Suharto era, said Indonesia should concentrate on economic affairs.

“Indonesia has many challenges ahead and a lot will depend on how this democracy manages the economy,” he said.

He added that economic success and successful democratization usually go hand in hand.

The country’s weakest point was its lack of focus on education, Wolfowitz said.

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