Indian Democracy

Based from my observation, when asked, a lot of people cannot named the largest democracy in the world. They thought it's either the US (obvious choice) or Europe (as if the whole continent is a one big unified country) or stranger still, Canada (yeah, the country's big but moose outnumber people here by ten to one!). People, the answer is INDIA.

Unless if the person has a keen interest in current affairs and politics, India as the largest democracy in the world is a fact that seems to elude most people. Most people have a Western-centric view of democracy that it is solely the creation and the standard political practice of the West. Democracy is not something one can easily associate with the so-called "Eastern values," with its rigid social hierarchy, abject deference to authority, forced conformity, and aversion to differing and opposing ideas and points of views.

While there's no denying of democracy's Western (Greek) root but its practice is universally believed to be the best form of governance that transcends the East-West divide. As people move away from the feudal mindset of authority-worship, divine rights of the rulers and mass repression, democracy offers them an alternative socio-political system that is both egalitarian and empowering.

The recent legislative election in Indonesia (another large Muslim-majority democracy) and the on-going general elections in India are perfect examples of Asian countries breaking away from the shackles of their authoritarian and politically-backward past. In the case of India, it has been a vibrant democracy since its independence in 1947 except for the brief interregnum of Indira Gandhi's Emergency Rule from 1975-77. Indonesia, on the hand, had a brief flirtation with democracy in her early years (1949 to 1957) when it adopted the parliamentary system, that was until Sukarno consolidated his authority through Guided Democracy (Demokrasi Terpimpin) and ruled by decree. It wasn't until 1998 that Indonesia finally became a democracy again.

Anyway, happy Election Week to the citizens of India, the world's largest democracy. Yep, it's a week of voting for the lucky Indians since the country is so huge and disparate. Total eligible voters for this election is more than 700 million people. That's like the populations of the US and Europe combined!