Democracy in Local Communities: Direct Election System versus Deliberation System in the Minangkabau Ethnicity in West Sumatra, Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52152/22.4.104-123(2024)Keywords:
Minangkabau ethnicity, local community, deliberation, direct election, communitarian democracyAbstract
This paper focuses on the dissonance between the values of the democracy of local communities and the liberal democracy of the Minangkabau community in West Sumatra, Indonesia. A direct election system is adopted to elect the leader of the Minangkabau community. However, a qualitative study shows that, culturally, the Minangkabau community chooses its leader through a clan-based deliberation system, relying on communal rather than individual representation. Adopting direct election with the one-person-one- vote principle to elect the community leader has instead been a source of conflict. The ambiguous understanding of the community members regarding the principles of individual and collective representation has given rise to the conflict. The institutionalisation of a clan-based deliberation system in the community is a solution to solve the conflict. This scholarly inquiry underscores that the Minangkabau ethnic group's democratic ethos fosters an environment conducive to communal deliberations, thereby sustaining their social cohesion and integration.
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