CDI and the Institute for Peace and Democracy
|
|
| |
^ Professor Reilly in discussion with Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr Marty Natalegawa. Also in the picture are Udhyana University Rector Dr. I Made Bakta, and Dr E. Ketut Erawan, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy
Photo: Courtesy of IPD |
CDI Director Ben Reilly was a speaker at an international workshop organized by International IDEA and the Institute for Peace and Democracy on the subject of “Indonesian and Asian Democratic Transition and Reform Experiences”. The workshop was held on February 22-25, 2010 in Bali, Indonesia.
The workshop looked at lessons learned from Indonesia’s democratization experience and from other members of the Bali Democracy Forum. Indonesia has now experienced a decade of democratization since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998. The workshop aimed to discuss starting points for the next step in Indonesia’s democratisation process, and to document this experience, so as to compare knowledge production and references to other countries as well as provide direct guidance from Indonesia’s experiences.
At the same time, it was realized that Indonesia’s experience can both learn from and inform other countries. Much of the discussion at the conference focussed on the need to discuss and learn from Indonesia’s experiences of democratic transition and at the same time, to share other Asian countries’ experiences, several of which are going through transitional processes of their own. To this end, a selection of Bali Democracy Forum countries attended the workshop, including national legislators, government officials, civic/opinion leaders and academics.
Prof Reilly spoke in the session entitled “Creating Representative Government – Reforming Political Parties, Democratising Election and Enhancing the Roles of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary”. His paper looked at convergent patterns of electoral reform in Northeast and Southeast Asia. Other sessions focused on
- Grounding Constitutionalism and Promoting Rule of Law
- Creating Representative Government - Reforming Political Parties, Democratising Election and Enhancing the Roles of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary
- Promoting Civilian Supremacy in Politics and Professionalizing Military and Police
- Decentralising the State and Economy
- Creating and Implementing Policies for Eradicating Corruption
- Strengthening Civil Society - Freedom of the Press, Civic Engagement in Politics, and the role of Traditional and Customary Governance
While in Bali, Professor Reilly also met with both the new Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr Marty Natalegawa, and discussed CDI’s ongoing program of activities in Indonesia, and also visited the offices of the Institute for Peace and Democracy for discussions with the Institute’s Director, Dr Ketut Erawan, to discuss CDI-IPD cooperation.
