Grant No.

08－030Research Report
Name:

Asra Virgianita

Organization: Graduate School of International Studies, Meijigakuin University(at the time of the grant)
Title of Research:

International Democracy Assistance to Domestic Election Monitoring
Organizations (DEMOs): A Case of Indonesia

Purpose of Research:
International democratic assistance is one means by which international community playrole in democratization (Schmitz and Sell 1999). There are two main ‘entry points’ for international
community to engage in democracy assistance: one is to focus on the state, the other is to focus on
the civil society or civic actors. When the international community is serious in helping countries tobecome more democratic, both entry points should be used. Aid to civic actors is also thought topromote democratic consolidation, a strategy grounded in the belief that a strong civil society isessential for healthy democracy. (Peter Burnell: 2000). DEMOs are one of domestic civic actors
which doing activities related to the election. There are two basic models of organizations for
DEMOs so defined: discrete organization created for the specific purposes of monitoring elections(stand-alone DEMos) and networking or coalitions of previously existing organization that combine
efforts and create a staff infrastructure to participate jointly as election observers (networkDEMOs). International democracy assistance has been used stimulate and support both types oforganizations (Sharon F. Lean: 2007).
In case of Indonesia, international democracy assistance and election monitoring are newphenomena in Indonesia political system after the decline of Soeharto regime in 1998. Therefore,
this study will investigate the role of international democracy assistance to Indonesian DEMOs,
through comparative study of the leading DEMOs (CETRO,JAMPPI, JPPR, Rector’s Forum).
Moreover, by examining the dynamics, the form, and the amount of support, this study will find thepattern of the international democracy assistance in Indonesia, especially for those DEMOs. Finally,
this study will investigate the problems of democracy assistance in Indonesia, especially in case ofto support the Indonesian DEMOs. Overall, this study purposes to analysis the role of international
democracy assistance toward the Indonesian DEMOs as one way to support democratization inIndonesia. Since democracy assistance is a new phenomenon in Indonesia, by understanding thisissue, we will be able to contribute to understand the way of international democracy assistancecould be played the role to support democratization in Indonesia. Their roles should be placed in theright tracks with high quality impacts on democratization. In turn, more broadly, it will contributeto betterment of democratization process in Indonesia. Since there is not many studies have
explored on democracy assistance in Indonesia, especially in case of DEMOs, this research willalso enrich the academic discourse about international support for democratization as well as
democracy assistance in developing countries.

Content/Methodology of Research:
The analysis of this study used a qualitative approach. The analysis was carried out basedon data and information collected by in-depth interviews with key persons, direct observation andthe research of the relevant documents. Furthermore, relevant studies, journal/magazines articles,
reports, and quantitative data also used as supplementary materials. The merge of data resources
became the strong point of this research.
Since this study focused on the international support for democratization in Indonesia, I
conducted field study in Indonesia to collect the information from the Indonesian DEMOs as main
analysis of this research, the representatives of donor countries in Indonesia, the Indonesian
government body, etc. Moreover, in order to understand more detailed how the international
democracy assistance has played the role for democratization in Indonesia, especially for theIndonesian DEMOs and to know/observe how the DEMOs has working in the field, direct
observation has been conducted on the Indonesian General Election on April 9, 2009.
The contents of this research are explained in details as follows:
1.1

Literature Studies

Literature studies have been focused on three issues to be explored: 1) Theory of democracy
and democratization; 2) Indonesia Political System/Regime and 3) Foreign/International Aid andInternational democracy assistance. However, I found that there were only limited books/
journals/academic papers which explored the phenomena of international democracy assistancetoward Indonesian democratic reform.
Furthermore, some books/papers which explored some cases of democratization/democracy
assistance in other countries such as in Latin America, Africa, Asian countries, Middle East are also
explored to have a comprehensive knowledge about the implementation of democracy assistance inother countries.
1.2. Fieldworka. Interview
I have been doing the fieldwork in Indonesia for twice on Dec 13, 2008- Jan 12, 2009 andMarch 12 – April 11, 2009. I interviewed some DEMOs, the General election commission (KPU),
the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) and the representative of donor countries in Indonesia.
DEMOs are one of domestic civic actors which doing activities related to the election. There are
two basic models of organizations for DEMOs so defined: discrete organization created for thespecific purposes of monitoring elections (stand-alone DEMOs) and networking or coalitions ofpreviously existing organization that combine efforts and create a staff infrastructure to participate
jointly as election observers (network DEMOs). Some Indonesian DEMOS such as; Independent
Labor for Election Monitoring (PBIP), Centre for Electoral Reform (Cetro) can be categorized as
stand- alone organizations. Others organizations such as People Voters Education Networks (JPPR),JAMPPI, can be categorized as network DEMOS.
Considering that the information should be collected from organization in the all level, theinterview has not only conducted toward organization which positioned at central area (Jakarta), butalso towards the organizations at local level. For that purpose, this study has selected someorganizations in Makassar, South Sulawesi to be interviewed. As results, I interviewed the Local

KPU, some leading non government organizations such as the Coalition of Women’s Forum, theCoalition of NGOs for Election Monitoring in Makassar. In Jakarta, I interviewed some DEMOs
which have received a funding from donor countries/institutions such as Cetro, JPPR, JAMPPI,PBIP, etc.
For the representative of donor countries/organizations, I interviewed a person from theJapanese embassy, the US Embassy (USAID), UNDP and the European Union. Each donor
countries/institutions has own characteristics in distributing their support for democratization inIndonesia, such as for electoral and civil society assistance area. Therefore the exploration ofdemocracy aid policy of each donor countries, especially to Indonesia, is important point for thisresearch too.
b. Direct Observation
This research used a direct observation in Indonesian General Election on April 9, 2009 as oneof data sources. The observation covered some polling places in Jakarta area (South, East, West,North, and Central), Depok (West Java) and Makassar (South Sulawesi). I focused the observation
in some polling places at Jakarta and Depok. However, in order to collect the comprehensive
information at the polling places, I arranged some person to assist me to cover the observation on
the election -day in Jakarta and Makassar. I made a guideline for them about how they shouldobserve the election process and what kind of aspects should be a concern related to this research. I
also asked them to write a report of observation results.
c. Data collection (Secondary data)
I also collected some official/unofficial document from government organizations such as KPU
and Indonesian National Development and Planning Bureau (Bappenas), donor institutions,
Indonesian research institute, etc. Moreover, I collected some articles from Indonesian newspaper,magazines, academic papers/journal/magazines which could not be accessed online.

Conclusion/Observation:
The observation results of this study could be explained in short as follows:First, the international support has been perceived as positive and negative factors towards thesustainability of the DEMOS. Considering the Indonesian government has not allocated a fund forthe DEMOS, the international support to the Indonesian DEMOS recognized as a positive factor.
However, some of the Indonesian DEMOS identified the international support became a negativefactor because some of the DEMOS became very dependent on the funding from foreign donorcountries. As results, the decreasing of the international support for DEMOS in 2004 and 2009
elections has affected the DEMOs activities both for the pre-election and the election-day. Some
DEMOs criticized the donor aid which has been distributed to KPU rather than to NGOs/DEMOs.
They argued that the KPU has a budget from government, while NGOs has to concentrate to find afund for their activities.
Second, the relations between the KPU, BAWASLU and DEMOs sometimes were colored byconflicts. Therefore, the intensive coordination between the organizations should be built to avoid
the conflict among the organizations. At this point, the donor countries/organizations could play arole to built a bridge through their aid programs for those organizations and to assist eachorganizations to do their job efficient and effectively.
Third, after 2004, the new mechanism for donor countries to distribute their electoral aid,
especially for NGOs/DEMOS, has been formulated by Indonesian government. In the 1999 and2004, the donor countries could distribute their aid to NGOs/DEMOs directly. However, the newmechanism provides that the donor country may not provide support directly to NGOs, but theyshould discuss it through committee meeting which consisted by Indonesian government side(BAPPENAS and Ministry of Internal Affairs), KPU, and the representatives of donor countries.
For donor countries/organizations, the procedure should be perceived as a positive approach inorder to build the interaction between government and civil society/NGOs actors. However, in otherside, some NGOs perceived that it could become a way of the government to control the NGOs
activities.
Finally, the problem towards the involvement of the International NGOs (INGOs). The INGOs
called as intermediary actors between donor countries and domestic NGOs criticized by theIndonesian NGOs/DEMOS saying that the position of INGOs which have a higher level position
than domestic NGOs should be revised. The INGOs should be placed in the same level or as acounterpart, not look like a new donor actor for domestic NGOs.