Titi Anggraini: Democracy Ambassador, It’s All About Work, Work, Work, for Democracy

The Executive Director for Elections and Democracy, Titi Anggraini, has just been appointed as one of Democracy Ambassadors to champion study on Global State of Democracy by International IDEA, a think-tank organization based in Stockholm, Sweden. Titi is appointed alongside other prominent figures, such as former president of Latvia, Vaira Vike Freiberga, and former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chincilla.

Here’s our interview with Titi Anggraini after the appointment was announced.

How do you feel after being appointed as Democracy Ambassador by International IDEA?

I feel deeply honored for this opportunity provided by International IDEA. This is an achievement not of me, but of Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) and the democracy movement in Indonesia in general.

Among other appointed ambassadors, I’m the only one ambassador that has the background of civil movement activist. Other ambassadors are either politicians, famous scholars, or public officials. I consider this as a challenge to further deepen civil involvement to improve the quality of democracy in global scale.

You will be working alongside with prominent figures in an international scale. What are your plans as a new Democracy Ambassador?

I will do my best to promote and defend the values and principles of democracy. It will require my best efforts to engage more people to protect and defend democracy from critical threats that may weaken its role in society.

These efforts include: fighting against money politics, vote manipulations, and illicit campaign in elections.

Why is it important for the society to defend and protect democracy?

Democracy is not a given situation. We need to nurture and improve it. There will be challenges, and democracy also interconnected with many other things.

Therefore, democracy should be promoted as an indispensable part with anti-corruption movement, rule of law, and human rights. We need to promote of all these to achieve social prosperity and justice for all people.