The paradox of Indonesian democracy.

Introduction

On 5 April 2004 Indonesia held its next to the first democratic general election in the post-Soeharto era, inaugurating what will be the first leg of a series of elections utilizing a novel system, which most Indonesians faith will breathe new life and stimulate change in a political arrangement deemed by many to be ineffectual as the promising advent of reformasi in 1998 gave way to the troubling reality of democratic consolidation, giving rise to prophecies of doom by dint of security analysts speculating whether the Indonesian state could survive. (1) The proposition that democracy is an unattainable goal in multi-ethnic states, particularly in