Local arenas in Indonesia face common problems today, among them:
■Delivering fundamental social services – such as water or transportation networks – in a sustainable way;
â– Urbanization, or the movement of people from rural areas to cities, and the
pressures on the environment and on governmental capacity that this migration brings;
â– Economic vitality, or creating opportunities for jobs and prosperity in a global marketplace;
â– Fostering social peace in increasingly diverse social settings, where a myriad of ethnic and religious groups must live side by side.
Solution
One of the principal challenges facing local democracy in Indonesia is how to manage cities that are increasingly rich in cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.
Local government is the tier of public authority that citizens first look to solve their immediate social problems. It is also the level of democracy in which the citizen has the most effective opportunity to actively and directly participate in decisions made for all of local society.
Local governance, by virtue of its smaller size and focus on their issues, offers greater prospects for the use of direct democracy.
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Don’t forget: there is an important difference between representative and direct democracy.
In representative democracy, citizens choose among candidates or political parties who make authoritative decisions for the entire community.
On the contrary, direct democracy is engagement by the citizen on virtually all matters before the community.
It is worth emphasizing here that certain concepts are critical to our understanding of local governance, including the following:
â– Local governance is a basis of citizenship and community.
■Democracy involves ongoing deliberation — meaningful dialogue, debate and discussion in an effort to solve problems that arise before the community.
â– Citizen participation allows individuals to gain knowledge about community affairs that otherwise resides with the elected officials.
â– Direct democracy tends to enhance good relations among the citizens, building a community that is self-reliant and public-spirited.