Indonesia on the way to democracy

The smooth reelection of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as president of Indonesia shows that the archipelago is on the way to democracy, comments the daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Nevertheless problems do remain, the paper writes: "Things are moving slowly with many aspects of the direly needed infrastructural improvements ... labour market regulation and financing for the armed forces. The government has still failed to deal adequately with poverty, unemployment and health care. But more important for many voters were the direct payments to the poor and needy reintroduced by Yudhuyono, as well as his success in fighting corruption. At least formally, Indonesia has established itself as a democracy with a large Islamic population. But the essence of democracy, peaceful political debate, open discussion and the free expression of opinion and counter-opinion, still has to be worked out in the country."

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