NIU’s Dwight King assists
Jimmy Carter in monitoring
historic Indonesian election

by Tom Parisi

NIU’s Dwight King, a professor of political science, journeyed to the island republic of Indonesia over the summer to serve as an election monitor and as an adviser to former President Jimmy Carter.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, led a 60-member international delegation to witness the historic 2004 presidential election. Indonesian voters for the first time were directly choosing their president, although none of the five presidential tickets won a majority of the July 5 vote.

A run-off election is scheduled for Sept. 20.

“This is a critical year in Indonesia’s ongoing process of democratization and political reform because of three national elections,” King said, noting that the country also held a legislative election in April.

“Despite fears of political violence, a peaceful atmosphere has prevailed,” he added. “There were relatively few administrative problems or allegations of fraudulent practices, enabling both domestic and international monitoring groups to give the elections their stamps of approval.”

Still, national elections pose great challenges because of Indonesia’s size, geographical dispersion and communication difficulties in remote areas. Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world. About half of the country’s more than 13,500 islands are inhabited.

Despite the challenges, more ballots were cast in the country’s national legislative election (124 million) than in the last U.S. presidential election (105 million).

The election results also attest to the vitality of Indonesia’s young democracy, King said.

In April, the largest party, led by the incumbent President Megawati, was soundly defeated. And in the July presidential election, Megawati garnered only second place. The top vote-getter was sponsored by a new party that had won only about 7 percent of the April vote.

“These results suggest that Indonesian voters are increasingly making up their own minds about who they want for president,” King said. “They also indicate that political Islam does not appear to be solidifying in this, the world’s largest Muslim country.”

King is fluent in Malay, Indonesia’s official language, and is an expert on the country’s political affairs. He served as an adviser to the Carter Center when it monitored Indonesia’s 1999 national elections as well. The Indonesian government invited the Carter Center to return this year.

King also is a faculty associate of NIU’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies. The center serves as a pipeline for Indonesian students studying in the United States. Four of seven academics appointed in the late 1990s to craft Indonesian political laws were NIU graduates. Three were once King’s students.

While in Indonesia early this year, King convened a gathering of eight NIU alumni. They included Ryaas Rasyid, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives; Andi Mallarangeng, a well-known Indonesian political commentator; Ramlan Surbakti, vice chair of the general election commission; and David Carroll, interim director of the Carter Center’s Democracy Program.

The Carter Center has been a pioneer in gaining international acceptance for election monitoring. The process demonstrates the international community’s interest and support for free and fair elections and discourages violence. International monitors also give support, visibility and encouragement to Indonesian groups that field hundreds of thousands of their own monitors.

The Carter Center experience provides King with a practical dimension to his knowledge of Indonesian politics and enriches his teaching and research at NIU. King said it was a privilege to work with the former president. The NIU professor was particularly impressed by Carter’s “commitment to Christian, liberal and humanitarian values, his diplomatic and peacemaking skills and his personal warmth.”

“Despite his advancing age, Carter’s drive and determination haven’t waned,” King added. “I often ran into Carter at the hotel swimming pool at 6 a.m. where he swam laps for half an hour.”

8-23-04