Government urged to change attitude towards people<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A senior political scientist is calling on the
\ngovernment to change the way it deals with the people, saying
\nthat the present attitude has failed to truly promote the social,
\neconomic and political standing of the masses.<\/p>\n
Loekman Soetrisno, of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University,
\nsaid the relationship between the state and the people must be
\nrestructured to give the majority of the people better access to
\neconomic resources.<\/p>\n
\"The ignoble social, economic and political standing of the
\nmajority of the Indonesian people, if not dealt with quickly and
\nproperly, will cause a social calamity which cannot be prevented
\nby any force whatsoever,\" he said Monday night at a discussion to
\nreflect on 50 years of Indonesian independence.<\/p>\n
Loekman pointed at the doleful political and economical
\nsituation that masses of people are still subjected to after 50
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Participants in the discussion, titled The place of the People
\nin the Republic: Reflecting on 50-years of Indonesian
\nIndependence, were empathic towards people whom they felt were
\nstill neglected despite the economic fruits of development.<\/p>\n
Loekman said that although the Constitution places the people
\nin the highest standing, reality often proves otherwise.<\/p>\n
\"If the people's standing in the state is that important, then
\nwe should ask ourselves why the people can still be brutalized by
\nthe authorities, such as the case of Nipah Dam in Madura,\" he
\nsaid, referring to the deaths of several villagers during a
\nprotest against the expropriation of their land by the government
\nin 1993.<\/p>\n
Loekman reproached the argument commonly stated that the lack
\nof economic and political democracy in Indonesia is chiefly
\ncaused by the low quality of human resources in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the pre-Dutch colonial era when local industries
\nthrived throughout the country.<\/p>\n
These industries, he said, failed during the colonial period
\nbecause the people were subjected to a system designed to exploit
\nthem as cheap labor for the Dutch plantations.<\/p>\n
Loekman attributed the failure of the present government to
\nimprove the standing of the people to three factors.<\/p>\n
The first is the transformation of \"development\" into an
\nideology-like dogma which defeats all interests standing in the
\nway.<\/p>\n
In the name of development, common people who have lived and
\nworked in the forests for generations are thus forced to
\nrelinquish their land to forest concessionaires, he said citing
\nan example.<\/p>\n
Secondly, the government has adopted an attitude where it can
\ndo no wrong.<\/p>\n
\"This perception manifests itself in the government's
\nunwillingness to accept criticism from below...along with the
\nabsence of a tradition to apologize if its policies are wrong or
\nharmful to the common people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Legal<\/p>\n
The third is the lack of legal certainty, something which he
\nattributed to the constant government interference in the
\njudicial body. \"Such is the level of intrusion that it creates a
\nperception among the people that the judicial institution sides
\nmore with the government rather than being a neutral and
\nobjective court,\" he argued.<\/p>\n
Another case he cited is the regulation requiring people to
\nobtain permits from the authorities to hold any gathering that
\ninvolves more than five persons.<\/p>\n
Legislator Fadel Muhammad as a speaker in the discussion said
\nit was time to empower the people in various areas.<\/p>\n
\"Empowering the people is a means to increase their
\nparticipation in the decision making process, whether it is on a
\nnational decision or even those that affect them directly,\" he
\nsaid during the discussion organized by the Young Indonesia
\nForum, the New Indonesia Foundation and Sinergi Kalam Council.<\/p>\n
Fadel, who is also one of Indonesia's leading entrepreneurs,
\nexplained that such empowerment is a basic principal of political
\nand economic democracy which should be fully implemented. (mds)<\/p>",
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