Expert renews call for morality in politics<\/p>\n
People are still yearning for quality leadership a year after
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid was installed. The following is an
\nexcerpt from an interview with political historian Azyumardi Azra
\nwho recently launched his book Islam Substantif: Agar Umat Tidak
\nJadi Buih (Substantive Islam: Ensuring the Ummah Never Become
\nFlotsam).<\/p>\n
Question: Abdurrahman Wahid is approaching the first
\nanniversary of his presidency. You have disagreed with the
\nsuggestion that Indonesia is currently 'governmentless' but how
\nabout 'nongovernance'?<\/p>\n
Answer: I would say so. I don't think we can say
\n'governmentless' as we do have a government, but an ineffective
\none due to a number of factors. The first is friction between the
\nold political forces with the nascent, not yet solidified, new
\npolitical force.<\/p>\n
Among the old political forces is the Indonesian Military
\n(TNI) which still tends to maintain its old political privileges.
\nThere's a reluctance to follow through with its recently stated
\nrepositioning. On the other hand, some of the new political
\nforces still hang on to TNI, as proven by their success in
\nensuring that the military stay on in the legislature until 2009.<\/p>\n
The second cause to our ineffective government is Gus Dur
\n(Abdurrahman) who has yet to show his leadership, as seen in his
\ninclination to take on controversial issues and policies. The
\nsecond proof of his lack of leadership is his tendency to ignore
\nstanding administrative procedures.<\/p>\n
As an individual, Gus Dur can become as egalitarian and
\naccessible to the public as he wishes, but he should also mind
\nthe procedures and not bypass people.<\/p>\n
We can see how many problems have emerged because he has
\nneglected procedures. The controversies surrounding the
\nreplacement of the police chief, for instance, were a matter of
\nprocedure and not the substance of the matter.<\/p>\n
These all affect the government's effectiveness, which in turn
\naffects the effectiveness of other organizations such as law
\nenforcers, the military, the supreme court and others. We can see
\nhow minimal law enforcement has been over the past year.<\/p>\n
Your suggestion for the President?<\/p>\n
Gus Dur has no grand strategies in two important fields:
\neconomic and politics. Because of his personalized style, he
\ntends to adopt ad hoc and incremental policies, but not clear
\nstrategies.<\/p>\n
He does not have clear programs for economic recovery. His
\nwish to develop democratization is something that we all support,
\nbut often the steps he takes are counterproductive to that aim.<\/p>\n
One last thing I wish to note about Gus Dur is his recent
\nchallenge that legislators hold a special session of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly in which he could be removed if the
\nlegislature was dissatisfied with his answers about two financial
\nscandals. That is his right, but surely his response is out of
\nproportion because this could be a bad precedent.<\/p>\n
What if a succession takes place in that special session? We
\nhave always had \"abnormal\" successions. Soeharto replaced
\n(founding president) Sukarno in an abnormal way, B.J. Habibie
\nreplaced Soeharto in similarly abnormal way.<\/p>\n
When Gus Dur was elected last year, we reached a milestone
\nwhere we laid a firm foundation for democratization. Now if Gus
\nDur is replaced in such an abnormal way, it would be a bad
\nprecedent for our democratization.<\/p>\n
What's your view on Muslims' place in the political decision
\nmaking process?<\/p>\n
Indonesian Muslims are the majority suffering from a minority
\ncomplex. We are dominant in number but not in decision making
\nprocesses.<\/p>\n
Now our biggest challenge is how to contribute to development
\ncommensurate to our numbers. This depends very much on the Muslim
\nleaders. We have national top leaders from among the santri
\n(Muslim scholars) such as Gus Dur and Amien Rais, but when it
\ncomes to decision-making these leaders are still entangled in
\ncampaigns to further their own group's narrow interests.<\/p>\n
Your arguments to support that statement?<\/p>\n
We can judge this from the conflicts arising in the top layers
\nof the national leadership. The use of paramilitary groups such
\nas Banser and Pam Swakarsa in their conflicts does not encourage
\na good climate for the institutional development (of Indonesian
\npolitics.)<\/p>\n
Really, those santri leaders should refrain from using
\nphysical and psychological pressure (in solving conflicts).
\nRather they should display stances that support democratization.<\/p>\n
The use of paramilitary groups is certainly not exclusive to
\nMuslims.<\/p>\n
No, of course not. Many other groups have them, and call it by
\ndifferent names. The PDI Perjuangan, for instance, have a task
\nforce (Satgas PDI). This phenomenon is a cause for concern
\nbecause it is counterproductive to our wish for democratization.<\/p>\n
Muslims should empower themselves by developing political
\nparties (rather than developing such paramilitary groups).<\/p>\n
Now your concept about substantive Islam.<\/p>\n
What I mean by that is the actualization of Islamic values --
\nwhich stand as universal such as Al-'adalah (justice), Al-musawa
\n(egalitarianism), respect and tolerance -- into political
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
There are many substantive concepts in Islam which should
\nbecome the soul of political activism. This is substantive Islam.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, what we need now is a political morality which
\nis actualized into people's lives. Because of their majority, the
\nposition of Muslims becomes very important.<\/p>\n
For instance, if Muslims practice political ahlak (good
\nconduct), than many of our problems can be solved. (swe)<\/p>",
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