Indonesia needs new, younger leadership<\/p>\n
S.P. Seth, Freelance Writer, Sydney, SushilPSeth@aol.com<\/p>\n
The recent elections in Indonesia have turned the focus once
\nagain on the country. While the results of the legislative
\nelections are still being digested and analyzed, speculations are
\nalready rife regarding the forthcoming first direct presidential
\nelection. One sometimes gets the feeling that elections have
\nbecome an end by themselves. In the process, the country's
\ngoverning elite is conveniently forgetting that the electoral
\nprocess is just a means to an end. Which is the betterment of the
\ncountry's people.<\/p>\n
While democracy, of which periodic elections are an important
\npart, is a worthy goal, it is only an instrument. And like any
\ninstrument if it is not handled and channeled properly, it won't
\nproduce results and might even be counter-productive. Indeed,
\nsometimes people can even become nostalgic about their past
\n(however distasteful it might be, as in the Soeharto era), if the
\ngap between their expectations (under the new democratic order)
\nkeeps widening from one election to the other.<\/p>\n
That stage hasn't been reached yet, but popular
\ndissatisfaction is growing. The people, for instance, seem quite
\ndisappointed with President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). And they have punished her
\nparty by significantly slashing its voting share from the last
\nelection. The former President Soeharto's Golkar party hasn't
\ndone too bad, due to the nostalgia factor.<\/p>\n
The smaller parties, with a cleaner image, have been the main
\nbeneficiaries. Which means that people haven't just given up on
\nthe democratic experiment, hoping that there still are elements
\nin the political landscape genuinely committed to the country's
\nwelfare. If not, the country is in for further turmoil.<\/p>\n
But why is it that there is such a sense of disillusionment?
\nThe answer: It is the same old problem of power holders lining
\ntheir own pockets, with very little thought for their
\nimpoverished people. The corruption is endemic and
\ninstitutionalized. There are now more crooks with their hands in
\nthe till than under Soeharto, because of the imperatives of
\ndemocratic sharing of the spoils. It looks like the old system
\nhas a new coating, with necessary adjustment for new entrants.
\nFor instance, Megawati's party has now carved a large share of
\nthe spoils previously reserved for the Soeharto family and their
\ncronies.<\/p>\n
It would, therefore, seem that almost all politicians and
\ntheir hangers-on are now partners in crime. It is a cosy club
\nwith Indonesia's expanded establishment interested only in
\nfeathering its own nest.<\/p>\n
And where are the people? Well, many of them have joined
\nunemployment queues. And those still with jobs are having to pay
\nmuch higher prices (like their unemployed brethren) for daily
\nnecessities of life to survive. The result is a widening gap
\nbetween Indonesia's haves and have-nots. And some well-meaning
\nleaders and commentators have already pronounced that the post-
\nSoeharto reform process has failed and that nothing short of
\nrevolution or fundamental change is needed.<\/p>\n
A vital ingredient missing on Indonesia's political landscape
\nis the absence of idealism. The country lacks a grand vision
\nabout its future. It was this vision which galvanized its people
\nagainst Dutch colonialism. Unfortunately, after independence, the
\nglue that held people together has frayed.<\/p>\n
The country's founding father, Sukarno, wanted to perpetuate
\nhis rule by keeping the country in a state of perpetual crisis.
\nIt made him the dominant arbiter until his luck ran out in mid-
\nsixties when Soeharto-led military counter coup placed the
\ncountry under martial law and the army rule. Which lasted till
\nMay 1998 when Soeharto's much-touted sand-castle simply collapsed
\nwith the whiff of the Asian economic crisis. The emperor was seen
\nto have no clothes. And the entire three decades of Soeharto rule
\nlooked like wasted years without sound foundation.<\/p>\n
With corruption and nepotism surrounding the long military
\nrule, any trace of idealism among Indonesia's shrinking ruling
\nclass simply evaporated. Indonesia thus ended up with a grubby
\nand self-serving governing class knee deep in financial
\nskullduggery. And when they were overthrown, they pooled their
\nconsiderable resources to beat the new order to save their own
\nskins. And that precisely is what has happened. The old and the
\nnew elite have entered into a partnership for their joint
\nbenefit, holding people hostage to their shenanigans.<\/p>\n
Indonesia badly needs a new and younger leadership. Political
\nleaders like Akbar Tandjung, Wiranto and their likes are not a
\nsolution but they are part of the problem. They are tainted and
\ndo not inspire confidence. They are not keen to change the system
\nbut to entrench it for their own good.<\/p>\n
President Megawati might not be personally tainted but most,
\nif not all, around her are under a cloud. People do not have
\ncredible choices, thus deepening popular cynicism about their
\nleaders and the system they preside over.<\/p>\n
It is not to suggest that Indonesia is doomed. Countries of
\nIndonesia's size, population and diversity do not collapse just
\nlike that. There is considerable resilience in old cultures. Most
\nof its people are tied in common destiny and are likely to swim
\nand sink together. And the odds are in favor of swimming together
\nbecause adversity creates new bonds for survival.<\/p>\n
Having said that it is also true that one can't see clearly a
\nnew leadership emerging in Indonesia. And that is very worrying.
\nBut Indonesia has survived the megalomania of Sukarno and the
\nsuffocation of the Soeharto regime. In the latter case, students
\nplayed a crucial role to bring about the fall of the dictator.
\nOnce again, they might at some stage become the catalysts for a
\nnew and more substantive change to lift Indonesia from its
\npresent quagmire. In the meantime, its politicians will continue
\nto play on their fiddle while the country is cast adrift.<\/p>",
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