Jakartan empire faces structural change<\/p>\n
By Michael van Langenberg<\/p>\n
SYDNEY: The Jakarta Post on Nov. 10 editorialized as follows:
\n\"The central government must do away with its obsession with
\nnational unity and start giving real autonomy to the regions. The
\ngovernment must not offer half-hearted measures if it wants to
\nspare this nation from disintegrating. Barring complete
\nseparation, the ultimate form of autonomy is federalism ...
\nUltimately, the real threat to disintegration ... comes from
\nJakarta.\"<\/p>\n
The New Order regime from its inception in 1966 constructed a
\nstate-system in which two factors predominated. First was an
\nidealized
\nnation conceived in the official motto of \"Unity in Diversity\"
\n(Bhinneka Tunggal Ika). Second were notions of an 'integralistic'
\nstate resting on \"family\" principles, designed to protect an
\narchipelaegic unity (wawasan nusantara).<\/p>\n
From its very beginning in 1945 there has been a crucial
\ncontradiction in the Indonesian state-system between ideal legal
\nprinciples of regional autonomy, and the reality of an increasingly
\ncentralized national state.<\/p>\n
The collapse of the Soeharto presidency in 1998 may mark the
\nend of a century-long process of bureaucratic centralism in state
\nbuilding. That process began with the consolidation of the
\nimperial state of the Netherlands Indies at the turn of the 20th
\ncentury.<\/p>\n
In its later stage, Soeharto's presidency came to resemble the
\nimperial governor-generalships, supplemented with resonances of
\npre-colonial divine kingship. Soeharto's presidency ended amid a
\nmassive loss of popular legitimacy.<\/p>\n
National government itself was perceived widely as corrupt and
\nnepotistic, responsible for abuses by the military, greedily
\nappropriating regional resources, and culturally arrogant.<\/p>\n
In the past decade, coherent independence movements emerged in
\nseveral territories of the state. East Timor is now on the road
\nto full independence. Aceh seems destined to achieve either
\nindependence or some kind of special \"federalist\" relationship
\nwith Jakarta in the immediate future.<\/p>\n
Irian Jaya has just been divided into three provinces,
\ncreating increased local resentment against what is perceived as
\na further example of Jakartan imperialism. Increasingly coherent
\nmovements for regional \"autonomy\" are now also active in Maluku
\n(in two areas), Sulawesi (more than one!), Riau, West and East
\nKalimantan, West Sumatra, and Bali.<\/p>\n
How will the new government headed by President Abdurrahman
\nWahid deal with these movements? Executive government is vastly
\nweaker than a decade earlier. The legislature is now more
\npowerful and more legitimate than at any time since the mid-
\n1950s. It has successfully restricted presidential incumbency to
\ntwo five-year terms, and made the president answerable to the
\nHouse of Representatives once a year.<\/p>\n
The Speaker of the Peoples' Consultative Assembly (MPR), Amien
\nRais, is a prominent advocate of a federalist state. Popular
\nlegitimacy of the internal security functions and political role
\nof the military is now lower than at any time in the history of
\nindependent Indonesia. The ruling oligarchy of the New Order
\nno longer dominates the economy to the extent it did prior to the
\neconomic crisis of 1997-98. Conditions are ripe for a significant
\ndispersal of power within the Jakartan empire.<\/p>\n
Supporters of Abdurrahman and Vice-President Megawati
\nSukarnoputri present their political partnership as an
\nintegrating leadership \"duality\" (dwitunggal), echoing that of
\nIndonesia's two independence proklamator, Sukarno and Hatta.<\/p>\n
Like them, Abdurrahman and Megawati reflect a partnership
\nof Islamic identity and secularist orientation. Similar echoes of the
\nearlier dwitunggal are heard in Abdurrahman's stated preference
\nfor a federalist Indonesia, while Megawati has emphasized
\ncommitment to her father's vision of a centralized unitary state.<\/p>\n
However, unlike the symbolic regional duality of Java\/Bali and
\nSumatra\/\"outer islands\" of the Sukarno-Hatta dwitunggal,
\nAbdurrahman and Megawati constitute an emphatically Javanese
\nvariant of national political culture.<\/p>\n
The new cabinet has been designated the Cabinet of National
\nUnity. In reality it is a cabinet of compromise and coalition
\nbuilding. It brings together conflicting political forces - rural
\nJavanese Islam, modernizing reformist Islam, secularist
\nnationalism, federalists, unitarists, military professionals,
\ninternationalists, protectionists, liberal democrats.<\/p>\n
It reflects the broad coalition that Abdurrahman built within
\nthe MPR in October to gain the presidency. In a sense this was
\nless a coalition to ensure that Abdurrahman became president than
\nto ensure that Megawati did not.<\/p>\n
Once the Abdurrahman-Megawati dwitunggal was in place,
\nthe cabinet had to accommodate the wide range of interests behind it.
\nThese negotiations saw the cabinet increase from Abdurrahman's
\ninitially intended 25 to an eventual 35 portfolios. Policy
\ncoherence might prove impossible. Executive government
\ninstability is a distinct likelihood.<\/p>\n
Alongside reformasi, \"referendum\" has entered the dominant
\nnational discourse. The former emphasizes a new era of \"moral\"
\npolitics, with national leaders seeking popular legitimacy as a
\nmatter of priority. The latter discourse, on display most vocally
\nin East Timor and Aceh, has placed the debate about federalism
\nand secessionism at center stage. The \"Jakartan empire\" is facing
\nfar-reaching structural change.<\/p>\n
The writer is a private consultant and researcher on contemporary
\nIndonesia and Southeast Asia, and fractional employee in the
\nSchool of Asian Studies, University of Sydney. The above article
\nappears with the courtesy of the Inside Indonesia magazine, in
\nwhich it first appeared in the January-March edition.<\/p>",
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