Gus Dur's art of war<\/p>\n
By Susanto Pudjomartono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): There is no doubt about it -- last weekend's
\nbattle between President Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid and the
\nmajority of factions in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
\nwas a battle of wits, which should be recorded in detail in the
\nannals of Indonesian history.<\/p>\n
Never before have we been able to witness such a blow-to-blow
\nfight, in which each and every move met a counter move, creating
\ntension and confusion to both parties.<\/p>\n
There is also no doubt that in that battle the Gus Dur camp
\nwas more tricky and sometimes the more devious and deceptive in
\nits maneuvers, trying to find every single weakness in their
\nopponent's defenses and using every possible legal loophole,
\nthereby creating an impression that any means was justified.<\/p>\n
A battle between the state's executive power and the
\nlegislature is quite a common occurrence in any democratic
\ncountry. But the unusual manner in which Gus Dur fought to cling
\non to his presidency makes it worthwhile examining.<\/p>\n
Many people -- friends and foes alike -- are baffled, to the
\npoint of being mystified, as to why Gus Dur resorted to the use
\nof such undemocratic tactics to defend himself. He has repeatedly
\nthreatened to bring millions of his loyal supporters from East
\nJava to Jakarta to \"occupy\" the parliament building to stop the
\nMPR special session from convening, thus thwarting any attempt to
\nimpeach and oust him.<\/p>\n
He has put pressure on the Attorney General to investigate and
\narrest a number of business tycoons -- indeed a popular move to
\nwin the people's hearts, but at the same time, as he has made
\nclear, to have some of his political foes investigated and, if
\nneed be, detained as well.<\/p>\n
He has tried unsuccessfully to sack and replace generals of
\nthe Armed Forces (TNI), whom he considered to have disobeyed him.
\nTo a certain point, he has been more successful putting a trusted
\nman as acting police chief -- a move that prompted the Assembly
\nto call a special session.<\/p>\n
The national police force is assigned to secure the MPR
\nsession. By having his man in the top job, Gus Dur may have
\nthought that he had a strategic ally who could help him in the
\nevent that he needed one.<\/p>\n
These tactics have raised a lot of eyebrows. There seems to be
\nno logic in them. Some observers are at a loss and have come to
\nthe conclusion that Gus Dur has been practicing Chinese \"drunken
\nmaster\" movements, so unpredictable have his tactics become.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur is no doubt a master of deception. Sometimes, people
\nhave believed that he was bluffing, but who could be sure that in
\nwhat seemed like nothing there was actually something?<\/p>\n
Judging from the way he governs -- where an absence of a sense
\nof reality is obvious -- one can be misled to conclude that even
\nin defending his presidency Gus Dur has no clear-cut strategy.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, he certainly has one and it can be described
\nin only one sentence: fight to the bitter end. This includes
\nthreats, disinformation, misinterpretation, devide et impera
\n(divide and rule) tactics -- anything. In short, the end
\njustifies the means.<\/p>\n
Although trying to understand Gus Dur's logic in his present
\nstate of mind is a near impossible task, one can guess, or try to
\ndecipher, how his mind is working.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur somehow believes that he has been unfairly and cruelly
\nvictimized. He perceives that he has been legitimately elected as
\npresident, possibly with some kind of divine intervention or even
\nin a divine grand design. And suddenly, long before his term in
\noffice has come to its natural end, those same people who had
\nsupported his nomination to begin with are now turning against
\nhim and are even trying to oust him. He believes that the DPR has
\ntyrannized him and now Megawati has also abandoned him. In short,
\nhis former friends are conspiring to topple him.<\/p>\n
Hence, Gus Dur sees that he has every right not only to defend
\nhimself and his rightly-earned presidential seat, but also to
\nlaunch a counter attack against his \"enemies\" and possibly also
\nto take revenge on them. His outburst weeks ago that he would
\nunseat Amien Rais as the Assembly speaker if he should manage to
\nhold on to his presidency is proof of this reasoning.<\/p>\n
Thus, Gus Dur sees himself as being at war. He believes he is
\nfighting to defend his rights. As for his strategy, he relies,
\nnot on the western strategies of Clausewitz, Liddle Hart or
\nPatton, but of a totally different school.<\/p>\n
No one denies that Gus Dur is a very intelligent and
\nintellectual man. He devoured books of different kinds, the way
\nhe eats his favorite peanuts. He has a photographic memory, which
\nexplains why even now, when he can no longer read, he is
\nsometimes still capable of delivering high quality speeches with
\ncorrect quotations.<\/p>\n
Among the many books he read in his younger days were silat or
\nkungfu novels. On a number of occasions and in a number of recent
\nconversations he fondly recalls his favorite stories. Several
\ntimes he has likened himself to the character in those kungfu
\nnovels.<\/p>\n
For example, several months ago he said that he was like Kwee
\nCing who mastered the Hang Liong Sip Pat Ciang (Eighteen Moves to
\nConquer the Dragon). \"I am using only a few moves, but look, my
\nenemies are already in confusion, aren't they?\".<\/p>\n
Through reading kungfu novels Gus Dur learned about Musashi
\nand Sun Tzu, the famous Japanese and Chinese strategist. Anyone
\nwho reads the lines of Sun Tzu's Art of War, for example, cannot
\nhelp but draw a parallel between the book and Gus Dur's tactics:<\/p>\n
\"Use anger to throw them into disarray, use humility to make
\nthem haughty. Tire them by flight, cause division among them.
\nAttack when they are unprepared, make your move when they do not
\nexpect it.<\/p>\n
\"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be
\nextremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness.
\nThereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.\"<\/p>\n
It is also through kungfu novels that Gus Dur learned about
\nthe famous \"Thirty-Six Strategies of Ancient China\". Take one,
\nfor example: \"Clamor in the East, Attack in the West. Spread
\nmisleading information about your intentions, or make false
\nsuggestions in order to induce the opponent to concentrate his
\ndefenses on one front and thereby leave another front vulnerable
\nto attack\".<\/p>\n
Here is another: \"Make something out of nothing. Create a
\nfalse idea in the mind of the opponent and fix it in his mind as
\na reality. In particular, this means that you convey the
\nimpression that you have what you do not, to the end that you may
\nappear formidable and thus actually obtain a level of security
\nthat you had not enjoyed before\".<\/p>\n
Many of us sometimes think that Gus Dur is out of his mind.
\nCould this be a trick?<\/p>\n
One of the 36 strategies says: \"Feign madness but keep your
\nbalance: Hide behind the mask of a fool, a drunk, or a madman to
\ncreate confusion about your intentions and motivations. Lure your
\nopponent into underestimating your ability, until, overconfident,
\nhe drops his guard. Then you may attack\".<\/p>\n
We have learned about the strategy of sowing discord when Gus
\nDur, a few weeks ago, started to befriend Rahmawati, the younger
\nsister of Megawati, to have her start to criticize her older
\nsister.<\/p>\n
What if all else fails? The last of the 36 strategies
\nstipulates retreat: \"When your side is losing, there remain only
\nthree choices: surrender, compromise, or escape.<\/p>\n
\"Surrender is complete defeat, compromise is half-defeat, but
\nescape is not defeat. As long as you are not defeated, you still
\nhave a chance.\"<\/p>\n
Does this mean that we will see a prolonged fight, even if the
\nAssembly does impeach Gus Dur?<\/p>\n
The writer is Chief Editor of The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gus-durs-art-of-war-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }