Parahyangan Center for European Studies (PACES)/Parahyangan Center for International Studies (PACIS) co-organized a joint-seminar in cooperation with Faculty of Sociology and Law, Igor SikorskyKyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine on 8 April 2025 at 13.00 pm (Jakarta time) or 09.00am (Kyiv time).
The joint-seminar addresses the timely issues relevant with the situation in both Indonesia and Ukraine. Both countries are now in the process of “consolidating democracy”, while facing diverse challenges in (re)building state and promoting economic development in the context of geopolitical rivalries among global major powers. The particular challenges include the increase of reciprocal tarriff recently announced by President Donald Trump on 2 April 2025 as well as uncertainty of the initiative for conflict settlement between Ukraine and Russia following the meeting between President Zelensky and President Donald Trump. Indonesia face the first particular challenge, while Ukraine must find alternative options to address the second challenge.
The seminar was opened by HE Bapak Arief Muhamad Basalamah, the Indonesian Ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Republic of Armenia. In his opening speech, Bapak Arief highlights the importance of the cooperation between Indonesia and Ukraine and expresses his hope that this seminar would strengthen the productive cooperation between the two countries.
Representing PACES Unpar, Dr. Mangadar Situmorang presents his perspective on the State Building and Democracy in Indonesia. His presentation is entitled “Indonesia Democracy: Longing for Functioning yet Democratic Government.” Bapak Mangadar highlighted four phases of the experimentation of Democracy in Indonesia. The first was Liberal Democracy (1945-1959); the second was Guided Democracy (1959-1966); the third was Democracy of Pancasila under Authoritarian Regime (1966-1998); and the fourth was Reformasi period (1998-2025). He further highlights the experiences in building democracy after the fall of authoritarian regime in 1998. There has been the so-called transformation period from 1998-2004 which was followed by the so-called U-turn period (or consolidation). He suggests that since 2014, Indonesia experienced the so-called Bell-turn era which was indicated by the decline of democratization). Dr. Mangadar Situmorang argues that the Bell-turn era continues in today’s politics.
Bapak Mangadar further identifies four challenges for democratization in Indonesia today. The first challenge is the rise of autocratic legalism which challenges the supremacy of law. The second is the existence of volatile coalition and corrupt and cartel political parties that undermines the civilian supremacy; the third challenge is related with the social and economic development such as low level of economic growth, social economic inequality, weak economic structure and dependency upon foreign investment and trade. The fourth challenge is the populist orientation and corruption that challenged the functioning of effective governance. Indonesia certainly needs a strong government which functions in accordance with democratic principles.
The second speaker was Dr. Albertus Irawan JH who shared the experience of Indonesia in promoting high economic growth through development. Bapak Irawan’s title of presentation was “The Developmental State: The Conception and Indonesia.” He argued that there is critical need for Indonesia to seriously consider the use of working approach such as the developmental state. First, Indonesia is heading for Indonesia’s Emas 2045, to become a developed industrialized country with high economic growth. Secondly, Indonesia’s economy is currently under heavy pressure, radical drop of Indonesia’s financial market index, massive lay-offs. Since 2014 Indonesia is experiencing the Middle Income Trap and currency depreciation. Indonesia is now facing difficult challenges following the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the United States.
Prof. Dr. Pavlo Fedorchenko-Kutuyev, chair of Sociology Department, KPI talks about the state (re)building and challenges for democracy and economic development in Ukraine. Dr. Pavlov presents several challenges that Ukraine faced in the past when the country was under the Soviet Union. He suggests extremely contradictory, paradoxical situation which was indicated by a huge state (Soviet Union), but very ineffective, corrupted bureaucracy on one hand, and wild, sometimes unregulated market on the other hand. There also emerged a kind of black market or grey shadow market. There was some missing link between the state and economy.
Dr. Pablov highlights that Ukraine has been experiencing a rapid growth under the auspices of the European Union and thanks to the support of the European Union. Many Ukrainians labour forces are now working in European Union members and contributed to the development of their economies. Yet, Ukraine has been facing a difficult situation under the two competing influence of Russia and the EU. The challenge is even much more difficult as some part of Ukrainian territory is now under the control of Russia and there are horrible destruction of material infrastructure. Many Ukrainians realizes that to survive they have to defend their sovereignty, liberty and freedom. Ukrainians must be resilient, innovative, and be flexible to adapt to the challenges and find adequate and efficient responses.
There is an important lesson that this war acts as catalyst for changes, catalyst for innovation and catalyst for reform. Ukrainian is trying not just to survive but to innovate and to think about its future.
“This war acts as catalyst for changes, catalyst for innovation and catalyst for reform. Ukrainian is trying not just to survive but to innovate and to think about its future.”
Preparatory meeting between representatives of Unpar and KPI with support from the Indonesian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine
The joint-seminar is aimed to strengthen the cooperation between Parahyangan Catholic University Indonesia and Igor SikorskyKyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine in promoting international cooperation in the field of education and science. The cooperation between both parties is facilitated by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Kyiv, Ukraine in her efforts to building closer diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Ukraine.
Author: YP Hermawan
Updated on 12 May 2025
