Last year, around the same time when the US Presidential Election primaries had just started, I was having lunch with few colleagues in Jakarta's Central Business District.
The conversation veered to Donald Trump, who had already started making headlines through his high decibel and often scoffed upon campaign. On my either side, was an American and a European, who totally dismissed the idea of Donald Trump even securing a nomination.
I differed having just witnessed a highly polarising campaign back home in India that brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi to power. My colleagues seemed dismissive of the fact that elections in India were any indicator for a great democracy like America. They didn't show any sign of knowledge that country in discussion, India, is the largest democracy in the world; and a comparison with the second largest democracy, USA, was not far fetched. The conversation veered to other topics as we cleaned morsels from our plates, sitting in the third largest democracy of the world, Indonesia.
Now since the election results are behind and we all are wiser in hindsight, I am tempted to document my prognosis. These could also be the future situations that soon to be President Trump will need to watch out for and nip in the bud.
1. The dissenting voices are not branded as anti-national; when people express opinion which is at cross purpose, they are not declared as seditious and trolled by an army of paid influencers and foulmouthed followers.
2. Freedom of independent bodies- academia, media and civil society does not get curbed and attempts to brand them as sympathizers of terrorists and enemies of the nation don't get encouraged.
3. The government machinery and national policies don't get coated in populism to win a future election, or for destroying opposition and benefiting the people that supported one to win.
4. The nationalistic rhetoric does not take the country to war and conflicts with other countries in the world, just to win a populist vote back home.
5. The systematic destruction of pluralism does not happen; the spread of religious hatred and intolerance, which in turn leads to gross violation of human rights does not get a fillip.
Sooner or later, the actors that compromise democratic values are shown door by the very tools of suffrage that brought them to office. This surely should not be any leader's destiny.
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