Common people<\/p>\n
From Kompas<\/p>\n
Kompas ran a report on its front page titled Voice of common
\npeople from July 12 to July 14, 2001 about how the common people
\nare suffering because the state's leaders are not paying any
\nattention to them. The report acknowledges that the sufferings of
\nthe common people have been exacerbated by the political crisis
\nin the run-up to the special session of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly.<\/p>\n
It is also clear from the report that our politicians and
\nintellectuals are aware of the plight of the common people. They,
\nhowever, have only exploited the common people for their vested
\ninterest as they idolize power. The attitude of our politicians
\ntoward the matter in question seem to suggest that the phrase
\n\"common people\" is a national concept.<\/p>\n
The concept the our founding fathers had in mind was that of
\n\"sovereign people\" (sovereignty in the hands of the people, as
\nstipulated the 1945 Constitution). What about the word \"people\"
\nitself? Are people categorized as \"small\", \"medium\", \"big\" and
\n\"very big\"? Does our sovereignty depend on which category we fall
\ninto? Ask our leaders and their answer is surely, \"None of my
\nbusiness\".<\/p>\n
In the House of Representatives' first memorandum of censure
\nagainst the President, the \"leaders\" in the House used the phrase
\n\"common people\" instead of \"sovereign people\". They have not
\nadopted the concept of sovereign people enforcing popular
\nsovereignty.<\/p>\n
Like it or not, this has been the reality for the past 56
\nyears since our independence. It also does not seem that we have
\nany wish to stop idolizing power. How much longer must we bear
\nwith this culture of \"colonized people\"?<\/p>\n
ROCH BASOEKI MANGOENPOEROJO<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/common-people-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }