A calculated defense<\/p>\n
In the current political context, President B.J. Habibie's
\nstate of the nation address on Monday came across as the treatise
\nof someone desperately trying to shore up his flagging
\npopularity. Who can blame him? The credibility and legitimacy of
\nhis administration are in tatters after the routing of his Golkar
\nParty in the June elections. If that was not enough, Golkar,
\nstanding alone to buttress his power, now appears ready to pull
\nthe rug from under him following the Bank Bali scandal, which
\nimplicates him and his close associates.<\/p>\n
Knowing that his chances in the November presidential election
\nare in jeopardy, Habibie used the speech on the eve of
\nIndependence Day to try to go over the head of the House of
\nRepresentatives and reach out to the people. He highlighted his
\nachievements while carefully concealing or concocting excuses for
\nhis failures, of which there are many. A national day speech is
\ntraditionally an occasion for heads of state to present their
\nvisions for their country. But with less than three months left
\nin power and with a large part of the nation rejecting him
\nthrough their votes in June, Habibie used this occasion in a
\nshameless bid to save his reputation and presidency.<\/p>\n
To the uninitiated, Habibie's grandstanding may have seemed
\nconvincing. He may have won over the uninformed by declaring that
\nhe and his administration fought valiantly to lift the country
\nout of its economic and political predicaments, which he brushed
\naside as the legacy of former president Soeharto, his mentor. To
\nthe discerning -- and Indonesians today are far more critical
\nthan they were under Soeharto -- the speech was more notable not
\nfor the inventory of Habibie's \"successes\", but for his deft
\nsidestepping of crucial issues facing the nation. To them,
\nHabibie's real message, of fitting the national political agenda
\nto suit his goals in the November election, came across loud and
\nclear.<\/p>\n
The speech was essentially a rehash of policy statements made
\nby him and his ministers over the course of the year. It
\ncontained nothing new, as even some Golkar leaders were willing
\nto admit. His \"accelerated evolution\" theory has been explained
\numpteen times, but it is essentially his convoluted excuse to
\nward off criticism of the slow pace of reform under his
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
He avoided the pressing issues of the day, such as the Bank
\nBali scandal, the slow corruption investigation of Soeharto and
\nrecurrent violence in Aceh, Ambon and East Timor. He selected
\neconomic indicators to suit his needs but conveniently omitted
\nnegative indicators, such as declining exports and falling direct
\nforeign investment. His assertion that foreign investors are on
\ntheir way back into the country, based on the resurgent stock
\nmarket, reflected either his ignorance -- for these are
\nspeculative investors who will dump their shares at the first
\nsigns of trouble -- or an attempt to deceive the public.<\/p>\n
His biggest oversight is, not surprisingly, his chief
\nweakness: the question of justice. He was uncharacteristically
\npassionate in his defense of the Soeharto investigation, citing
\nthe need to respect the former strongman's human rights. Yet
\nthere was no recognition of the injustices and human rights
\nabuses committed not only by Soeharto and his regime but, as in
\nthe case of Aceh, by his own regime.<\/p>\n
Given his known ambition for the presidency, virtually every
\nact that Habibie does in public from now to November must be seen
\nin that context. The speech on Monday is no exception. It was as
\nmuch a campaign speech as a defense treatise for acts done and
\nnot done. It was also a general rehearsal for his big day in
\nNovember when he will present his statement of accountability
\nbefore the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).<\/p>\n
The next MPR, however, will be filled with members very
\ndifferent from the accommodating group he faced last November.
\nThis new breed, or most of them, was elected in free and fair
\nelections. Armed with the knowledge that they must be truly
\naccountable to the people, it will be their task to ensure that
\nHabibie also is made accountable for every blunder committed
\nduring his short transitory presidency.<\/p>",
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