Hopes and fears<\/p>\n
As 1998 ends at the stroke of midnight tonight, it brings to a
\nclose easily the most dreadful year Indonesia has experienced in
\ndecades. What will the new year bring? Indonesians are awaiting
\nthe answer with a mixture of hope and apprehension.<\/p>\n
Scattered civic unrest sparked by a crippling economic crisis
\nnotwithstanding, up to May few Indonesians conceived the
\npossibility that anything could come to shatter the calm and
\nrelative prosperity which three decades of government-imposed
\nstability had brought to the nation.<\/p>\n
Tens of millions of Indonesians were not even born when an
\nArmy lieutenant general called Soeharto crushed a communist-led
\ncoup at the cost of an uncounted number of civilian lives -- some
\nsay hundreds of thousands -- to end forever, as it seemed, two
\ndecades of political strife and insecurity, and usher in a new
\nera of growth and prosperity.<\/p>\n
Incredible as it may have seemed at the time, the monetary
\ncrisis that began in Thailand in mid 1997 and spread rapidly
\nacross the region exposed the rotten core of the self-serving
\nsystem that Soeharto had built and protected with an iron fist.<\/p>\n
Spearheaded by the nation's students and intellectuals, a
\nsnowballing reform movement, hardened by the fatal shooting of
\nfour Trisakti University students by unidentified troops during
\nprotest demonstrations in early May, forced Soeharto to
\nrelinquish his presidency in favor of his then vice president,
\nB.J. Habibie, on May 21.<\/p>\n
Hailed by some as marking the dawn of a new era for the
\nnation, that moment is seen by many as the beginning of a
\nprotracted period of crisis brought about by the new government's
\nperceived lack of credibility and legitimacy. Habibie, after all,
\nwas Soeharto's favored protege and could hardly be counted on to
\nsuccessfully complete a democratic reform process which, under
\nSoeharto, he was known to oppose.<\/p>\n
Most members of his Cabinet are former Soeharto ministers and,
\nhis critics say, many policies are molded in his mentor's style
\nof power politics even though he has been compelled by
\ncircumstance to make real concessions to the democracy movement.
\nMany skeptics see Habibie as a mere extension of Soeharto and
\nsuspect he might, if given the chance, prefer to return to the
\nold Soeharto style of authoritarian governance. In other words,
\nat the heart of the current antagonism between the government and
\na sizable part of the population is what analysts see as a crisis
\nof confidence that is being left to fester.<\/p>\n
To return to the question of what the coming year will bring:
\n1999 presents Indonesia with the golden opportunity to resolve
\nits internal conflicts once and for all by bringing them into the
\nopen through a general election. That, however, presumes that the
\nconditions that make it all possible exist.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, there must be no gnawing uncertainty about
\nthe holding of a general election that is truly fair, honest and
\ntransparent. This principle must be ensured in the political laws
\nthat are at present being debated in the House of
\nRepresentatives. Unfortunately, while in their public statements
\nall the parties involved have displayed a good understanding of
\nthis necessity, the bickering that is at present holding up the
\ndiscussions is proof that the party factions concerned -- the
\nruling Golkar in particular -- are placing their own interests
\nabove those of the nation.<\/p>\n
Many analysts fear that those who want to see the status quo
\nmaintained -- the military included -- are still willing to
\nresort to whatever means necessary to ensure their interests are
\nserved. This may augur that true democratic reform through a fair
\nand honest general election still remains a dream, or worse, may
\nbe indefinitely postponed, since the House of Representatives is
\nstill dominated by Soeharto-era politicians.<\/p>\n
Add to all this the smoldering discontent and the intergroup
\nrivalries that are rife at the moment, and it does not bode well
\nfor the nation in the year to come. Granted, many of these
\nassumptions may be based on a lingering distrust of the
\ngovernment, the bureaucracy, the military and politicians.<\/p>\n
If so, a good first step to make toward ensuring the dawning
\nof a better era is by removing the public's distrust of the
\ngovernment. A national dialog would help. But given the obstacles
\nthat seem to be still in the way of holding such a meeting of
\nminds, it might be easier for the government to simply begin by
\nabandoning its penchant for invoking controversial policies, such
\nas creating a civilian militia. All it takes is to better listen
\nto the voice of the people.<\/p>",
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