Federal status more likely<\/p>\n
If many provinces of Indonesia are now rebelling, it's not
\ntheir fault. They have been treated very badly in the past and
\nnow it's time for justice. But does that mean justice shall be
\nrendered under the form of a referendum to separate from the main
\nbody?<\/p>\n
B.J. Habibie is the one who came up with this idea of
\nreferendum in the first place. He is the one who has launched the
\nprocesses of (possible) disintegration of Indonesia. It was good
\nto have given the referendum to East Timor, but not in the way he
\ndecided in January 1999. It appeared a very emotional and
\nunconcerted decision. Everybody in Indonesia and abroad was
\nsurprised at the decision. As a result, East Timor became a mess
\nand the world blamed Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Second, the Indonesian people in remote provinces,
\ndissatisfied under the rule of Sukarno and Soeharto, wish also to
\nhave access to such a referendum which they automatically assume
\nto be synonymous with independence as is the case with East
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
Indonesia should envisage within its Constitution a new form
\nof state, a federal state. In this case every member state can
\nobtain a special autonomous status without holding a referendum.
\nThe best system to sustain Indonesia's unity in diversity is one
\ncentral government with its own prerogatives governing all over
\nthe country and the regional governments with their own
\nprerogatives, like in Belgium.<\/p>\n
Unlike East Timor, no foreign countries have expressed support
\nfor any of the other proindependence movements. That is not the
\nbusiness of the international community. This is an internal
\nproblem of Indonesia. But in this globalization era, the Western
\ndemocracies and the Asian countries certainly are of the opinion
\nthat Indonesia shall stay one, because the disintegration of that
\nmarvelous archipelago would create lots of instability in the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
It is also saddening to see how suspects in many cases remain
\nin the House of Representatives. I hope justice will eventually
\nprevail. The first test given to Attorney General Marzuki
\nDarusman by President Abdurrahman Wahid is to handle the case of
\nthree ministers of his Cabinet who are supposedly involved in
\ncorruption, collusion and nepotism. He also did so based on the
\ninput from the press with whom he had a dinner meeting to insist
\non their important role as opposition and watchers following his
\nelection as president. President Abdurrahman knows there is no
\nreal political opposition, so he gave that role to the local
\npress. I wish the President and his ministers the best of luck
\nand much courage in an enormous task they will never be able to
\nhandle in 100 days (even if they had magical powers), and with or
\nwithout a Volvo.<\/p>\n
YVAN MAGAIN<\/p>\n
Bandung<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/federal-status-more-likely-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }