Implementasi Demokrasi Lokal di Balik Bayang-bayang Otonomi Negara

Ever since regional autonomy had been employed, it brought benefits to local communities that encouraged participation in local democracy.  Nevertheless, the regional autonomy has also caused disintegration in the local communities.  This also produced social and political unrest that threatened national integration in Indonesia.  Consequently, the national government exerted to control the regional autonomy in accordance with states objective by strengthening centralized political power.  In using its power, the central government tried to employ regulations that suit state’s interest.  Through regulations, the local autonomy was directed to support central government’s policies.  Two questions in this paper were the consequences of the implementation of the centralized political power in Indonesia’s regional autonomy, and the effects of this state autonomy to the development of local democracy in Indonesia.  The analysis of this paper focused on practices of local democracy in West Sumatra Province where its people had experienced democracy long before Indonesia became a modern nation state.