Indonesia's 60-year journey<\/p>\n
Benget Simbolon Tnb., Jakarta<\/p>\n
A just and prosperous Indonesia. That was a shared dream, growing
\nout of an awareness that Dutch colonization had to be stopped and
\nan independent Indonesia be declared.<\/p>\n
Last week the nation just celebrated its 60th year since the
\nproclamation of independence. Long enough to expect some good
\nresults. But instead of getting closer to realization, we seem to
\nbe moving further away.<\/p>\n
Imagining such a long wait, a question came to mind: Where did
\nwe go wrong? A very long answer can be made. But perhaps it can
\nbe summed up in brief: It was due to the \"we're-the-best\"
\napproach during the Old Order, the \"Father-knows-best\" formula
\nduring the New Order and now -- due to democratization -- it
\ncould possibly be called the \"everybody-knows-best\" approach.<\/p>\n
Externally, founding father Sukarno took the \"we're-the-best\"
\napproach through his lighthouse policy, which tried to impress
\nthe best outside but hid the bad things inside.<\/p>\n
Internally, all groups, especially those involved in politics,
\nwere scrambling to get attention that their opinions were the
\nbest. No one seemed to be willing to compromise with the reality
\nfacing the country.<\/p>\n
That condition forced the first president to resort to
\napplying his 'guided' democracy, which then authorized him to
\nbecome president-for-life.<\/p>\n
As powerful as he was, he became unchecked. A social disaster
\noccurred as development programs were derailed to meet his own
\npolitical interests.<\/p>\n
The New Order under president Soeharto took over the country,
\nwith the support of many Indonesian people, hoping that the dream
\nof a just and prosperous country could be realized.<\/p>\n
He changed the strategy. This time the economy was made the
\n\"commander\" of national development.<\/p>\n
To guarantee the success of the economic program, he applied
\nthe \"father-knows-best\" formula. He centered all powers around
\nhimself and his cronies. His government was very strong, but
\ncivil society was very weak.<\/p>\n
With the \"father-knows-best\" approach, political communication
\nwas one-way. No debating of policies, no criticisms, let alone
\nprotests. People were only required to listen and to do as they
\nwere told.<\/p>\n
With all institutions \"depoliticized\" and public rights
\nseverely suppressed, Indonesia has become a politically retarded
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
It was for this reason that Indonesians could not maturely use
\nthe freedom they got as a process of democratization that
\nfollowed the fall of Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Like poor people, used to an income of hundreds of thousands
\nof rupiah per month, now suddenly they were getting millions of
\nrupiah. They went on shopping sprees to buy unnecessary consumer
\ngoods rather than the productive goods they so badly needed.<\/p>\n
The situation, combined with the failures of the last three
\nadministrations to lift them from crisis, has encouraged an
\n\"everybody-knows-best\" approach within society.<\/p>\n
Everyday across the country, different groups of people stage
\ndemonstrations, demanding that their problems or their views be
\naddressed first by the government.<\/p>\n
Such a tendency has been growing since 1998, from the era of
\nPresident Habibie, to President Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid, to
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri, and now the incumbent President
\nSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
And if the incumbent government fails to perform to
\nexpectations, the public could easily become enraged again. And
\nthis tendency, as usual, will get out of control as each of them
\ntry to force their will onto the government. When this time
\ncomes, it will be a disaster for the existence of Indonesia as a
\nnation.<\/p>\n
Thus far, President Susilo has made many promises.<\/p>\n
The government's actions so far have mostly been the result of
\nreactive thinking rather than projective thinking, which should
\nfocus on attacking problems at their roots and anticipating
\nthings in the future based on extrapolations of the current
\nsituation.<\/p>\n
Such actions could be noticed when the government tackled the
\nbird flu disease recently. They jumped to the conclusion that our
\npoultry had become infected with bird flu and had to be culled.
\nBut they were wrong, causing damage to the economy.<\/p>\n
They also returned to the old ways of solving problems. The
\nlatest example being the government plan to revive the notorious
\nBakorinda (Regional Intelligence Agency), which suppressed public
\nrights throughout the tenure of the authoritarian Soeharto
\nregime.<\/p>\n
Through its public relations stunts, it has been wasted too
\nmuch energy trying to please the public rather than addressing
\nthe root of problems facing the country. This can be seen through
\nhis broken promises and the setting up of a 'hotline' number for
\nthe people to report complaints.<\/p>\n
The government has to realize that there are too many problems
\nto solve in this country. But addressing them all at the same
\ntime is simply impossible.<\/p>\n
It has to make prioritize resolving urgent problems first,
\nincluding corruption. And it must develop a shared awareness of
\nthe issues so that the public willingly contribute to the efforts
\nto solving them.<\/p>\n
That way, the public will see that the government is making,
\nnot breaking, efforts to realize the shared dream.<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer for The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesias-60-year-journey-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }