The Downfall of a Regime: Lessons Learned

Every regime has its crack that leads to downfall. The cracks have multiple forms from the most delicate to the most simple. One of the most delicate crack was found in the downturn of Suharto Regime which took form as currency crisis. The crisis overwhelmed a 32 years old regime with its massive magnitude. But, as noted earlier, the downfall of a regime does not always associated with a delicate crack, Tunisian case serves to be one of the delicacy. A Tunisian man who burned himself to death in December to protest against high unemployment, setting off weeks of rioting that led to the ouster of the country's president and inspired similar revolutions in the neighboring countries. We can say that Indonesia today is still far from the so called social upheaval not to mention that the absence of authoritarian regime. But the giant party coalition that led the government has been acting as a new regime that may sparks sorrow picture for democracy.
Dominant parties may eventually lead to an absolute power, they form an oligopolistic collusion which eliminates all odds. In Oligopoly, a few large parties dominate the system resulting in a high degree of political concentration. Parties in oligopoly are usually very much aware of each others' actions. This can lead to political collusions as they match their action with others. The Dominant parties included in the collusion will then create Stackelberg’s first-mover advantage followed by mediocre parties in the system.
Corruption is deemed as the finest product created by the first-mover advantage system. It pilots to a widening in gap between rich and poor. Corruption has a powerful attribute which impedes economic growth by the dysfunction of a political system or institution in which government officials, political officials or employees seek illegitimate personal gain through actions such as bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. Ehrlich and Lui (1999) argue that investment in political capital, or so-called ‘rent seeking’, consumes economic resources that could otherwise be used for production or investment in human capital. Meon and Sekkat (2005), meanwhile, demonstrate that lower quality of governance leads to larger negative impact of corruption on investment.
Corruption in any form is treated as chronic sickness causing of many social and economical evils in the society so does it damages the moral and ethical fibers of the civilization. Certainly, it is correct that corruption breeds many evils in the society & once corruption start take place, slowly and gradually whole country passes through its net until it become permanent disease. So far Indonesian economic is concerned the slow progress of the war against corruption is the result of lack of decision making at higher level that is besieged by the shallow political desires. Moreover, political configurations are important to the extent that they are "configuring: that is, to the extent that they establish laws and orders effectively governing political conduct. Eventually, the actors involved will create a save passage in laws which they established.
Even so, the system still has its crack which can break down the evil foundation. Przeworski (1991) argued that the crucial element in the survival of democratic regimes lies in their capacity to generate incentives such that political groups that lose still have more to gain from competing within a democratic framework than they do from overturning it. What counts more for democracy is whether economic needs are being met, and the degree to which reforms result in unemployment, poverty and reduced inequality. The absence of such action will only create cracks leading to downfall.
Some cracks were emerging in the last few months. The first one happens to be the all time gangster epic story when public saw Gayus wandering around while he was supposed to be in a state of detention. This action has opened public’s eyes about the fragility of law and order. The second crack to be said was shown when religious leaders made a class action calling for the government to explain “at least 18 lies”.
The lies called to be explained were on poverty statistics, food security and energy, access to basic needs, the fight against terrorism, human rights protection, education budget, adequate settlement for Lapindo mudflow victims, case handling on Newmont, which was accused of dumping untreated mine waste in to the sea, and Freeport’s unfulfilled contract renegotiation promised in 2006, religious freedom and national unity, freedom of the press, protection of migrant workers, government transparency, the fight against corruption, the handling of polices’ dubious “piggy bank” accounts, clean politics, handling of the judiciary mafia case and the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia in relation to the arrest of three officers of the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Malaysia.
The third crack emerged just a few days ago when a man called Eli Cohen wrote an open letter revealing an arranged game between Indonesia and Malaysia while playing for the AFF Cup final. The source of accusation is still not valid enough but it has already built social unrest since it deals with football, a game consists of ample amount of fanatics.
To wrap things up, I would say the cracks should be taken care of as a factor to comprise the future policy in order to strengthen government and people relation. Furthermore, the policy makers should have enough credibility to diminish all of the mistakes that have been done before. With credibility, any political and economic turbulence could be easily tackled with the given policy instruments.