Page 102 - BUKU STRENGTHENING THE INDONESIAN PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY FADLI ZON

Rejuvenating Democracy,

Giving Voices to Youth

At the outset, I would like to congratulate the Parliament of Zambia for successfully organizing
the 134 IPU Assembly and Related Meetings.
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As the third largest democratic country in the world, Indonesia consists 260 million people of
various ethnic groups and regions. Indonesia is the country with the world’s largest Muslim
population, where 87,2 percent or 209 million of population identifies as Muslim. We have
become the living proof that Islam, democracy and modernization can flourish together.
Indonesia is a country whose constitution embraces the spirit of religious tolerance.

We are united in diversity.

Democracy in Indonesia has been developing into favorable direction. Particularly in
the aftermath of economic crisis 1998, Indonesia has experienced a significant political
transformation. Since then, there has been some progress toward Indonesia consolidated
democracy. These include freedom of expression, free and competitive electoral process, and
direct parliamentary and presidential elections.

However, our democracy is not merely defined by such parameters.We believe that democracy
should be home-grown and that there are no one-size fits all democracy. The existence of
various models of democracy in Indonesia has given rise to an intellectual question on what
kind of democracy is the best fit.

Selected Speeches of the Vice Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia I 89