From the 30th till the 2nd December the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Christian Wulff, conducted a state visit to Indonesia. The country representative of Hanns-Seidel Foundation in Jakarta, Dr. Ulrich Klingshirn, had the honor to inform the Federal President prior to the begin of his official program about the political situation in the emerging Southeast Asian country. In doing so, the country representative of HSF in Jakarta referred to the following findings:

1. A comparison between the ASEAN member states shows that Indonesia has certainly developed the most democratic form of government in Southeast Asia. Evidence of this is the strong position of the legislative, namely of the Indonesian parliament, which nowadays initiates more than two thirds of bills and holds a broad control function towards the executive. The maturity of the democracy in Indonesia is also made clear by means of other indicators: the far reaching right for freedom of press and expression, the holding of free elections on national and regional level, the buildup of a functioning constitutional court as well as the country’s decentralization, which led to a distribution of political liability in the regions.
2. Despite these successes there are critics, which point out, that the democratic development in Indonesia is merely coined by formal democratic processes and procedures. However, the formation of a democratic culture, which is for example constituted in the handling of oppositional groups or in the commerce with other cultures and religions, is missing. A proof of this is the situation in the Indonesian parliament, which is characterized by big corruption. This also applies to the ruling coalition of the president, which has substantial intern tensions and conflicts.
3. The weak political leadership by the president is illustrated by the handling of a very precarious topic in Indonesia: the issue of the role of Islam in politics and society. In general, a moderate form of Islam is practiced, whereby especially the Nahdlatul Ulama is considered as the representative of a cultural Islam, which is based on old Javanese knowledge. Lately, these moderate basic beliefs are being questioned by extreme Wahhabite influenced groups. Violent encroachments on religious minorities and intra-religious conflicts become more and more frequent. To stem the violence the Indonesian government pursues a preventative approach. Recently, lessons regarding civic education where re-implemented at Indonesian schools. Focal point of these lessons is the Indonesian state ideology “Pancasila”, which includes an equality of the six in Indonesia represented main religions. Equality of religions in this context means education towards tolerance and pluralism – values that were already conscripted as state ideology in the Indonesian Constitution by Sukarno, Indonesia's first president.