Democracy without an Organised Left: The Case of Indonesia

Thursday Colloquium

#Thursday Colloquium with Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir

A deepening democratic crisis, characterised by the erosion of political rights and civil liberties, has become a global challenge over the past decade, affecting both developed and developing countries. Indonesia, as the world’s third-largest democracy, is no exception. How can this trend be explained?

From the historical experience of the Global North, strong progressive labour movements linked to leftist parties have become the key element in advancing liberal democracy, alongside a welfare system, albeit to varying degrees. This was the case primarily in the post-war context, where the state was reconstituted in a way that allowed an organised labour to exercise its associational strength capable of shifting the balance of power in favour of broader society, which is institutionalised in what is often called social democracy. In the past few years, these social democratic institutions have gradually weakened, a trend stemming from the decline of labour power and the growing disconnection between progressive parties and grassroots organisations. The rise of right-wing populist leaders is a direct consequence of this decline, from which they exploit the disconnection of the masses from progressive organisations.

The case of Indonesia that Abdil Mughis Mudhoffir presents in his lecture provides further insights into substantiating such an argument. In this country, the left struggles to organise and exert influence in society. As a result, the labour sector remains either unorganised or absorbed into conservative trade unions, enabling bourgeois reformism from liberal segments of civil society to dominate. However, because this form of opposition is indifferent to organising a coherent political force, it is too weak to challenge anti-democratic interests. Against this backdrop, the deepening illiberalism within Indonesian democracy is just an inevitable outcome.

This argument challenges the prevailing analysis that attributes democratic decline primarily to the rise of illiberal elites and institutional weakness, while essentialising liberal civil society as a natural democratic defender capable of resisting autocratisation. Such views tend to misidentify illiberal tendencies for causes rather than outcomes, thereby obscuring the underlying problems within Indonesian democracy: the absence of effective defenders.

^{This event is addressed to fellows and their tandem partners}.