This paper examines two theoretical discussions. The first discussion is concerning the choice between deliberative democracy, so called permusyawaratan and representative democracy. The second discussion is about the tension between meritocracy and transactional democracy. Both discussions are undertaking in the current discourse of the Indonesian political setting. The discussions become so much relevant today because Indonesia is facing more multi-dimensional problems in both political and legal areas. The problems occur because Indonesia has forgotten the essence of State ideology, Pancasila. This paper argues that Pancasila should be placed not only as a State ideology, but also as a fundamental norm which becomes an over-arching principle for all the government’s conducts. In sum, the notion of deliberative democracy must be implemented to balance the implementation of representative democracy. Meanwhile, meritocracy could become a panacea to overcome a vested-interest political arena and political corruption