Arief Budiman

Sumber: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arief_Budiman

Arief Budiman tentang ‘Demokrasi dunia ketiga’


"The first is what I would call loan democracy. This democracy exists when the state is very strong so it can afford to be criticised. A sort of democratic space then emerges in which people can express their opinions freely. However, when the state thinks the criticism has gone too far, it will simply take back the democracy that it has only lent. The people have no power to resist. There is, second, limited democracy. This democracy exists only when there is a conflict among the state elites ... People can criticise one faction of the 'powers that be' and be protected by the opposite faction ... However, when the conflict within the elite is over, this democratic space will probably disappear also."


Arief Budiman (born January 3, 1941 in Jakarta), also known as Soe Hok Djin (Chinese: 蘇福秦),[1] He is an Chinese Indonesian sociologist and was a lecturer at the Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga, Indonesia until 1996. From 1997 until the time of this writing, he is a professor in Indonesian studies in University of Melbourne, Australia.



2.


Berdasarkan pemerhatian di atas, agaknya di manakah kedudukan demokrasi kita? Apakah kita sekadar ― sedang dipinjamkan ruang demokrasinya? Apakah demokrasi kita itu hanyalah ruang terhad atau apakah kita masih memiliki yang namanya demokrasi itu?

Bayangkanlah jika lapan tuntutan Bersih 2.0 itu menjadi kenyataan. Apakah semua ini sekadar satu mimpi?

Apa pun, kita menunggu 30 Mach 2012. Selamat datang Felda!