Democracy is a fundamental principle that I have been exposed to since elementary school. Born and raised in a democratic country after the political reformation, I have had the privilege of witnessing the practical implementation of democracy in my everyday life. However, this privilege has somewhat confined me to my own perspective, as I have not had the opportunity to experience democracy in other nations. My horizon broadened significantly when I had the chance to interact with 40 young leaders from Asia during the 2023 SEASAT Youth Camp. This experience not only provided me with new insights into the concept of democracy but also deepened my understanding and empathy regarding how democracy should function effectively.
Freedom of speech among the populace stands as a pivotal gauge of the successful execution of a democracy. While the roots of democracy extend back many centuries, the practical realization of this concept has exhibited slow progress and remains notably distant from perfection. Democracy is essential to achieve good governance that ensures people’s voices are heard and accommodated. Notably in several preeminent nations, democracy has emerged as the bedrock upon which governance is founded. Nonetheless, the unbridled and formless expression of public sentiment carries the potential to give rise to exclusionary and unsustainable policy formation. In this essay, I aim to uncover how to balance people’s aspirations and accommodate them through collaborative and inclusive policymaking.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei: The louder the voice, the more it is heard.
“Vox populi, vox dei” is the Latin phrase meaning “The voice of the people is the voice of God” (Webster, 2023). It is a democratic foundational principle that hinges on the participation and collective will of the citizens. This phrase can be seen as the antithesis of the dictatorship regime that suppresses the people’s voices. While this maxim underscores the importance of public opinion in shaping governance, it also raises concerns about potential pitfalls associated with unchecked majoritarianism.
Meanwhile, the emergence of social media and technology creates new dimensions and challenges to “vox populi, vox dei”. The rise of social media platforms provides unprecedented opportunities for people to voice their aspirations or even be involved in uncontrollable mass “online war”. In addition, the advancement of technology and social media could help rising populist leaders achieve their agenda. Populism is a political approach that emphasizes the desires of the majority against certain elites. Populist movements tend to oversimplify complex issues, foster division, and overlook minority rights. Social media helps spread the populist agenda by amplifying these people’s voices.
There is a widely-known phenomenon in Indonesia where the government takes action on certain issues after they have gone viral on social media. For instance, there is a young Indonesian diaspora named Bima that used social media to criticize the corruption, lack of high-quality education, and underdeveloped infrastructure in the local government of Lampung, Indonesia. Bima’s voice went viral and received a lot of support and echo from the people. It received massive attention even from President Joko Widodo (Tempo, 2023). Another case occurred when Jakarta experienced severe air pollution for several weeks. There was no significant and immediate response made by the government in addressing this issue until people on social media started buzzing and made it viral. On February 14th, 2023, President Joko Widodo conducted a meeting with relevant ministers to tackle this issue, which resulted in immediate responses (Kompas, 2023). This virality in social media brought rapid response and governance reform that people could never have imagined before.
A Temporary Win: when quantity wins over quality
“Vox populi, vox dei” has been shown to be a catalyst for democratic and policy reform. However, this concept also created other challenges, such as unsustainable policy, tokenism, and neglect of the vulnerable groups’ voices in policymaking. Here are a few examples from Indonesia and Thailand of ineffective policy implementation.
There is a long discourse about the reclamation of the Jakarta Bay coast. The Jakarta Bay Reclamation Project is a large-scale development project that involves reclaiming land from the sea along the coast of Jakarta. The project aims to create new land for commercial, residential, and infrastructure development. However, this project has been a topic of controversy due to its potential environmental and social impacts. Several protests occurred, all of which were led by environmental and social activists who were concerned about the livelihood and well-being of the people living in the area. This issue became political during the 2017 Gubernatorial Elections, where the incumbent governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, planned to continue the coastal reclamation. However, the plan was opposed by his opponent, Anies Baswedan, who perceived a demand from the public to halt this initiative. Nevertheless, after being elected, he proceeded to continue the policy, citing economic reasons (CNBC Indonesia, 2023).
A similar case happened in Thailand. The Chana Industrial Project is a large-scale industrial initiative located in the Chana District of Songkhla Province in Thailand. This project is part of the Belt and Road Initiative by China (ANI News, 2020). It also sparked concerns among the people due to its environmental and social impacts, leading to a five-day protest in Bangkok. To handle the massive protest, the government agreed to postpone the development and established an ad-hoc team to investigate this issue (ASEAN Today, 2020). However, the actions taken by the government were merely symbolic gestures to involve people’s voices in the policymaking process. Ultimately, the government decided to resume the Chana project development (Bangkok Post, 2022).
These examples in Indonesia and Thailand show that accommodating the voices of the majority is not sufficient to ensure democracy and inclusive policymaking. What they illustrate is that when quantity wins over quality, it will result in nothing but a mere temporary win.
Making voices meaningful through collaborative and inclusive policymaking
Democracy should create a fair, inclusive, and safe space for all entities within it to allow for the effective functioning of governance. In this case, freedom of speech as one of the elements of democracy should be carefully regulated. Collaborative and inclusive policymaking is believed to be the ideal way to harness people’s voices to create sustainable and effective policies. This goal could be achieved through “collaborative governance”. Collaborative governance is initiated by public agencies to set up a collective process involving public, private, and community stakeholders to form and implement public policy, programs, or projects (Ansell, 2008).
The values of collaborative governance are deeply rooted in some Southeast Asian countries, such as “Gotong Royong” from Indonesia, “Bayanihan” from the Philippines, “Chun-Tian” from Thailand, and “Gotong Jaya” from Malaysia—which emphasize collective and inclusive approaches to tackle common issues. In regards to that, instead of creating an unfamiliar framework that may lead to confusion and new complexities, this approach tries to solve the problem by highlighting the modality that is deeply rooted within the people.
At Pijar Foundation, we interpret collaborative governance as the framework that emphasizes the importance of empathy, inclusivity, and consensus-oriented approaches in achieving common goals. The collaborative governance framework has been successfully implemented in Pijar Foundation’s Global Future Fellows (GFF) program in 2022 and 2023, resulting in five collaboration areas in safeguarding the energy transition and 15 collaboration projects in achieving food security amid global tensions. The GFF program addresses these global issues by gathering 36-40 muti-sector decision-makers to be actively involved in a series of masterclasses in collaborative governance. During the masterclasses, fellows are able to convey their problems and ideas and are encouraged to develop collective solutions through three stages of collaborative governance, namely: 1) empathy and problem synthesizing, 2) solution sketching and mapping, and 3) transforming ideas into action.
Apart from accommodating multi-sector discussions, collaborative governance also highlights the importance of youth participation in policymaking. At Pijar Foundation, we have created a series of youth-led and youth-driven forums in several cities in Indonesia called Townhall Muda. One of the examples of Townhall Muda's impact is the creation of Townhall Muda Policy Taskforce in Sigi Regency, Central Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. We not only facilitated the discussions between youth and policymakers but also drafted policy recommendations that have been adopted by the Sigi Regency government in their long-term development projects.
These empirical examples of collaborative governance in Indonesia spark optimism to replicate the implementation of the framework on a broader scale. To harness people’s voices and avoid populism bias, there are three stages in collaborative governance that can be implemented in building other collaborative and inclusive policymaking:
1. Empathy and problem synthesizing
First, to create an inclusive ecosystem, empathy should be the foundation for accommodating the community members’ aspirations and ideas. Any personal/community biases, ego, and prejudices should be eliminated to leave no one behind. Through empathy, we will have clear eyes to synthesize the actual problems that may be overlooked when we only focus on the majority’s voices. At this stage, we are expected to meaningfully accommodate the voices of the vulnerable, such as ethnic/religion-based minority groups, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community, and others. Instead of resorting to tokenism, we should give them the strategic position to be able to undertake meaningful action. This stage calls for the establishment of a sense of collectivism within the people. For example, in the Global Future Fellows program, fellows from diverse backgrounds are given the chance to describe problems from their perspectives; in Townhall Muda, young people are encouraged to express their ideas in front of policymakers. Throughout the processes, Pijar Foundation upholds merit-based participation and ignores other background traits such as gender, race, and religion that can provoke unnecessary bias.
2. Solution sketching and mapping
By having meaningful participation, receiving diverse perspectives, and fostering collectiveness, we can move to the solution sketching and mapping stage, where strategic stakeholders will be able to support our goals. At this stage, we will uncover our modality or potential and expect resource exchange within the group or support from the stakeholders outside the group who have like-minded principles. At this point, Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP), which emphasizes a people-centered approach and focuses on fostering public-private-people (civil society / NGO) partnership or P-P-P partnership, shares the same core values of collaborative governance in opting for inclusive policies and collaboration that benefits all. Therefore, a pragmatic suggestion would be to feature a session or a project on combining the NSP and the collaborative governance frameworks during the SEASAT Youth Camp, which could result in stakeholder mapping and policy recommendations.
3. Transforming ideas into action
A collective and empathetic group has crafted solutions and engaged stakeholders, culminating in the imperative stage of translating ideas into actions. The bedrock of this framework rests on collectiveness and consensus, underscoring the guiding principles for an inclusive policymaking approach that serves all. For the realization of collaborative and inclusive policymaking, a strategic and like-minded partner is essential. The Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF), aligned with the NSP framework, is seen to be an apt collaborator. Their strong commitment to inclusivity, collaboration, and people-centric methodologies aligns seamlessly with the solutions proposed. Additionally, with the aligned values between TAEF and Pijar Foundation the successful collaborative governance implemented programs in Indonesia such as Global Future Fellows and Townhall Muda can be replicated in Taiwan to foster the collaboration between two countries.
Conclusion
Democracy's potency lies in its ability to channel the diverse voices of a populace towards effective governance. However, unchecked and unguided public sentiment can lead to exclusionary policies with limited sustainability. A transformational approach emphasizing collaboration and inclusivity can counterbalance the populism-based policy. By synthesizing the voices of vulnerable groups and echoing historical Southeast Asian values of collective problem-solving, collaborative governance emerges as an ideal model for a democracy that can truly benefit all. Collaborative governance becomes a pathway to meaningful, inclusive, and enduring policies. Partnering with like-minded entities, such as the TAEF, can further amplify the success of this approach.
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References
ANI News. (2020). Protest in Thailand against China-backed special economic zone in Chana: Reports. Retrieved from ANI News: https://www.aninews.in/news/wo...
ASEAN Today. (2020). Thailand to delay Chana industrial zone on southern coast after protests. Retrieved from ASEAN Today: https://www.aseantoday.com/202...
Bangkok Post. (2022). Opinions sought as Chana plan resumes. Retrieved from Bangkok Post: https://www.bangkokpost.com/th...
Chris Ansell, A. G. (2008). Collaborative governance in Theory and Practice. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 18, Issue 4, October 2008, Pages 543–571, https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart... .
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Kompas. (2023). Kompas.Id. Retrieved from Jabodetabek Severe Pollution, President Jokowi Requests Short Term Solutions to Be Done: https://www.kompas.id/baca/eng...
Open Democracy. (2023). Rwanda shows that it takes more than seats in Parliament to liberate women. Retrieved from Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/...
Tempo. (2023). Lampung Governor Reacts to Tiktoker's Criticism on Regional Development. Retrieved from Tempo.co: https://en.tempo.co/read/17160...
Webster, M. (2023). Merriam Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from Merriam Webster.com: https://www.merriam-webster.co...
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About the Author
Ellya is an accomplished program manager and a passionate advocate for inclusive policymaking, driven by a firm belief in shaping our sustainable, collective future. Ellya is particularly passionate about designing and executing events, dialogues, and forums that promote insightful exchanges of ideas. International politics, especially the Indo-Pacific dynamic and sustainability for social impact are the issues that she is most passionate about. Remarkably, at just 24, Ellya is entrusted to lead the prestigious Global Future Fellows (GFF) program, one of Pijar Foundation’s flagship initiatives. Previously, she worked for BritCham Indonesia, an association that promotes business and trade relations between Indonesia and the UK. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Universitas Diponegoro, Indonesia.
Ellya can be reached at：
Email: [email protected]
Line: ellyarizkyani24