Mochtar and political irrationality<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Political scientist Mochtar Pabottingi may not have had too
\nmany phenomenal achievements in the course of his career, but his
\nconsistency in life is exceptional -- one that the nation can be
\ninspired by.<\/p>\n
Since he was a university student in the 1960s, he had been a
\nstaunch critic of the government. And it is his consistency that
\ngives him extra strength to be a government critic still.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Javanese style of criticism, which is indirect and
\noften ambiguous, Mochtar, a Buginese calls like he sees it to the
\npoint of irritation for some of his targets.<\/p>\n
Because those targets are government officials and
\npoliticians, it is they who often get annoyed by his remarks.<\/p>\n
Instead of keeping a distance from Mochtar, annoyed government
\nofficials and politicians have tried to offer him positions or
\nmoney to silence him, but Mochtar is not having it.<\/p>\n
\"Several groups have offered money, but I've always turned
\nthem down. If I accept their money, I am a sell-out,\" Mochtar
\ntold The Jakarta Post at his small house in the crowded housing
\ncomplex in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He even once rejected an offer to become a speech writer for
\nthen president Soeharto in 1995 -- a position that he said was
\nlater taken up by Yusril Ihza Mahendra.<\/p>\n
Mochtar is among a scarce breed of folks in this country.<\/p>\n
While some people, scholars and politicians compete with
\nothers to collect money and to pile up assets, he rejects all the
\noffers in order to maintain his consistency and integrity.<\/p>\n
With his wife Nahdia Julihar and four children Pilar Muhammad,
\nMuhammad Yogaswara, Dian Harigelita and Adhya Pandunagri, he
\nlives in the housing complex with mostly working class neighbors
\nin Kayu Putih, Rawamangun.<\/p>\n
The house has no front yard, just a 2-square-meter patch of
\nearth where a guava tree and a carambola tree grow. A few orchids
\nand bougainvilleas grow in small clay pots around the trees.<\/p>\n
That pretty fauna threaten to take over the small front porch,
\nwhere a set of chairs and piles of newspapers are placed.<\/p>\n
The lane that runs up to the house is just wide enough for
\nbajaj, far too narrow for a car to traverse.<\/p>\n
\"What is beauty? Is it when we have a Mercedes-Benz or a
\nJaguar? Is it when we possess several plush houses or apartments?
\nThe perception of what beauty and dignity are among people in
\nthis country is shattered.\"<\/p>\n
\"Many people here perceive someone's dignity to be related to
\namount of assets he or she owns regardless of its source. They
\ndon't care if it the assets are products of corruption,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Although he lives a modest life, Mochtar can still enjoy life
\nwith his family. Almost everyday he and his wife walk around the
\nhorse-race track in Pulomas, near their house.<\/p>\n
Mochtar also reads at least two newspapers The Jakarta Post
\nand KOMPAS and a weekly magazine TEMPO.<\/p>\n
\"Once in a while, I go out of town to visit my family,\" said
\nMochtar, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of
\nSciences (LIPI).<\/p>\n
Many of his colleagues have taken the offers of prestigious
\njobs at various government offices, but he turns down any such
\noffers.<\/p>\n
\"I don't aim to become a director general or other something
\nequivalent. I think there are a lot of people who are ready for
\nthose posts. I have planned to dedicate myself for the nation. I
\nhave been trying to fight against the (political) irrationality
\nof this nation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
By \"political irrationality\", Mochtar means all practices that
\ncontradict democratic values.<\/p>\n
He noted that he was not alone in the fight against political
\nirrationality, while naming others like sociologist Ignas Kleden,
\njournalists Goenawan Mohammad and Daniel Dhakidae, former justice
\nminister Marsilam Simanjuntak as his comrades in the fight.<\/p>\n
Born in Bulukumba, South Sulawesi, on July 17, 1945, Mochtar
\nspent his childhood and adolescence in the province. He moved to
\nYogyakarta in 1969 to get his degree from the Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity before getting his master's degree in 1980 from the
\nUniversity of Massachusetts and his doctorate in 1983 from the
\nUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa.<\/p>\n
He also received some of the most prestigious scholarships in
\nthe world, including Fulbright-Hayes, the East-West Center and
\nthe Ford Foundation.<\/p>\n
Upon returning home from Hawaii, he was assigned to head the
\nDepartment of Development and Comparative Politics at the Center
\nfor Political and Regional Studies at LIPI.<\/p>\n
He is not only known as a political scientist, but also a
\npoet. As a political pundit he has written some books and as a
\npoet he has published two books -- a collection of his poems.<\/p>\n
Mochtar, however, does not consider himself a political
\nscientist or a poet.<\/p>\n
\"I consider myself as a defender of this republic. It is an
\nimmeasurable mandate or task. My patriotism has grown since I was
\na kid,\" he said, adding that his father once cut
\ntelecommunications wires in Bulukumba during the struggle for
\nindependence and was chased by Dutch troops.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that his sense of patriotism is shaped by
\nthree basic components: the principles of Buginese, the teachings
\nof Aristotle and the value of Islam.<\/p>\n
As a Buginese he had been taught to always follow the
\nprinciples of lempu' (straight), geteng (tough), aca' (smart) and
\nwarangi (brave).<\/p>\n
\"Sadly, now the Buginese have largely forgotten those
\nprinciples. Now, they feel ashamed if they don't have cars or
\nluxurious houses,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Becoming a political scientist, Mochtar always emphasized the
\nneed to understand the essence of democracy, namely the need for
\nsolid checks and balances.<\/p>\n
His doctoral thesis titled Nationalism and Egalitarianism in
\nIndonesia 1908-1980 obviously shows his strong interest in
\nunderstanding the history of the Indonesian politics. It took six
\nyears to finish, and much of the time was spent reading
\nliterature.<\/p>\n
After reading various volumes on Indonesia's politics, he came
\nto the conclusion that the founding fathers' understanding of
\ndemocracy was very limited.<\/p>\n
According to Mochtar, the founding fathers had read many
\nbooks, but he believed they did not read those by philosophers
\nlike Tocqueville, Aristotle or Plato.<\/p>\n
\"The founding fathers were mostly trapped in socialism. They
\nthought all the problems could be settled through socialism. They
\nwere trapped in an ideology dispute, which made them fragmented.
\nThey never talked about checks and balances.\"<\/p>\n
\"Bung Karno dissolved Konstituante (the law-making body) and
\nParliament. Meanwhile, his successor Soeharto brought in Javanese
\npolitics and learned from the (evil) practices of the Dutch
\ncolonial regime,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mochtar emphasized that Soeharto imitated the policies and
\nactions of the Dutch colonial rulers.<\/p>\n
He explained that the economic activities in Indonesian waters
\nwere very lively before the Dutch arrived. The indigenous people
\nruled the trade with foreign sailors. It is all clearly described
\nin Raffles's History of Java.<\/p>\n
\"Imagine...at that time even female sailors could lead vessel
\ntrading as far as China. It shows how lively our ocean in the
\npast was,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Dutchmen then came and took control of the trade. They
\nrestricted trade between indigenous people and ordered that all
\ncrops and minerals be sold to them at discounted prices.<\/p>\n
In the first half of the 19th century, the Netherlands East
\nIndies Governor General Van den Bosch introduced the tanam paksa
\n(forced cultivation) policy, under which farmers were forced to
\ngrow certain plants for the benefit of the colonial rulers.<\/p>\n
During Soeharto's era, the political irrationality was
\nabundant. The New Order administration said politics was no good
\nand the nation should focus on development. It suppressed any
\ndemocratic movement, controlled the economy and the legislature,
\nwhich was supposed to watch over it. Thus, the government ran the
\ncountry without any controls from the public. This led to the
\ngrowth of nepotism, collusion and corruption.<\/p>\n
\"For me, the New Order administration was not authoritarian.
\nIt was a political system built in a time of emergency. The
\nregime was built after the 1965 massacre (of suspected communists
\nand their sympathizers). It introduced a system of command that
\ndid not tolerate discussion. To make it worse, the legislators
\nduring the New Order were mostly appointed,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Mochtar has explained the political irrationality in his new
\nbook titled Roots of Political Irrationality in Indonesia
\nscheduled to hit the market later this year.<\/p>\n
Given the great amount of political irrationality here,
\nMochtar said the success of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's
\nadministration would very much depend on the ability to fight
\ncorruption and revive good law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\"Either in the long or short run, the government must put the
\ncorrupt tycoons and human rights violators on trial and imprison
\nthem. It will create a deterrent effect and stop the violations.\"<\/p>\n
\"Corruption and human rights violations continue to take place
\nbecause we have failed to put Soeharto on trial,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
The downfall of Soeharto's regime was a result of the people's
\ndemand for reform, and the landslide victory won by Susilo and
\nVice President Jusuf Kalla during the presidential election
\nindicated that the public had confidence that they could bring
\nabout true reforms.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, he said, the Susilo-Kalla administration
\nappears to have violated the principles of democracy set out by
\nJames Madison, the fourth president of the United States. Madison
\nstated that governments must not appoint anyone based on race,
\nreligion, class or group, but solely on merit.<\/p>\n
Mochtar cited as an example the appointment of staff members
\nof the vice presidential office. He said that the staff members
\nwere mostly from South Sulawesi, the same place where Jusuf Kalla
\nwas from.<\/p>\n
\"If we want to build democracy we have to give equal
\nopportunity for all people, otherwise we create little empires.
\nIt is weird that his staff is mostly Buginese from South
\nSulawesi. That is not good. There must be a place for other
\nethnic groups,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mochtar reiterated that Indonesia had never entered into the
\nreform era. From his perspective, the present era is not one of
\nreform, but a continuation of the New Order.<\/p>\n
\"Soeharto has stepped down, but the system is still intact. In
\nfact, the New Order regime is getting stronger with the local
\nadministrations' elections,\" he said, referring to the victory of
\nseveral candidates from Golkar -- the political machine of the
\nNew Order.<\/p>\n
Mochtar emphasized that his criticism of the presidents, be it
\nSukarno, Soeharto, Habibie, Gus Dur, Megawati or SBY, were not
\nbased on hatred.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, it is because of my love for this country. They have
\nbeen given a mandate by the people, but they did not use it
\nappropriately,\" Mochtar said.<\/p>\n
He quoted a phrase from Brutus, who was explaining why he
\nstabbed Julius Caesar to death.<\/p>\n
\"It is not because I love Caesar less, but because I love Rome
\nmore. It is not because I love the presidents less, but because I
\nlove Indonesia more,\" he said.<\/p>",
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