More statesmen needed<\/p>\n
With the economy still in disarray and violence still raging
\nin parts of Maluku, Aceh, Irian Jaya and other spots in the
\ncountry, the focus of attention here seems of late to have taken
\na rather odd turn. Tired, perhaps, with the barrage of press
\nreports about communal strife in these areas, attention in the
\npast week has turned to the war of words that is at present
\nraging among the country's political elite.<\/p>\n
Indeed, to many Indonesians, it now looks as if it is this
\nconstant bickering among the political elite -- from leaders of
\npolitical parties to legislators and President Abdurrahman Wahid
\nhimself -- that is fueling the present troubles. At the very
\nleast, the open discord is making life easier for the masterminds
\nwho are believed to have been planning, devising and financing
\nthe violence, and prevents the government from taking effective
\nmeasures to counter the subversion.<\/p>\n
It gives little consolation for Indonesians to observe that
\nthe authorities seem to have some solid clues -- if still lacking
\nin evidence -- as to who they believe is stoking the violence in
\nMaluku and other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
The minister of defense, Juwono Sudarsono, in a statement that
\nwas rare in its directness, said on Thursday that supporters of
\nformer president Soeharto were fomenting the unrest to escape
\njustice and to destabilize the government of President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid.<\/p>\n
\"There are strong indications that the cronies (of Soeharto),
\nnot necessarily from the Cendana family, are involved in some of
\nthe unrest and bombings in North Sumatra, part of East Java and
\nMaluku,\" Juwono said, referring to the street (Jl. Cendana) where
\nSoeharto and his family lives.<\/p>\n
That is certainly progress. But still, the constant quarreling
\nat the top in Jakarta is making it unlikely that even if real
\nproof were obtained the trouble would cease. Besides, Indonesia's
\nproblems are currently mainly in the economical field, where the
\nturmoil is keeping investors away and putting heavy pressure on
\nthe national currency, the rupiah, which closed against the
\ndollar at Rp 9,305 before the weekend.<\/p>\n
All of which is reason for Nurcholish Madjid, one of the
\ncountry's most respected Muslim scholars, to urge the two top
\ndignitaries embroiled in the war of words, President Abdurrahman
\nWahid and the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly,
\nAmien Rais, to stop making controversial statements.<\/p>\n
In their case, restraint is all the more important since
\nAbdurrahman Wahid is a former chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama
\n(NU) and Amien Rais a former chairman of the Muhammadiyah
\norganization. These are the largest Muslim organizations in the
\ncountry. One can imagine what damage an open conflict between the
\ntwo could do to the country.<\/p>\n
To be honest, though, one can understand the exasperation
\nAmien must have felt over the President's penchant for making
\nwanton remarks, which he often later lightly corrects or
\nwithdraws. The final straw must have been the President's remark
\nthat the \"culprits\" behind all the trouble in Maluku and
\nelsewhere were to be found in the Assembly and the House of
\nRepresentatives.<\/p>\n
A number of those legislators, he said -- and later denied
\nhaving said -- were soon to be taken into custody for
\nquestioning. To this, Amien retort was to urge the President to
\nmake no further remarks whatsoever, at least until the upcoming
\nsession of the People's Consultative Assembly.<\/p>\n
This incident is but the latest escalation of the war of words
\nthat has been going on for some time between the two men. Other
\npoliticians, however, are just as guilty of stoking it up to ever
\nnew temperatures.<\/p>\n
In all this, one is uncomfortably reminded of the era of
\n\"liberal democracy\" in the 1950s -- an episode in Indonesia's
\nhistory that was characterized by the unbridled use of democratic
\nfreedoms, when Cabinets often stayed in power for just a few
\nmonths. The chaos which this resulted in led to the institution
\nof \"guided democracy\" under President Sukarno in 1959.<\/p>\n
That spelled the end of Indonesia's first experiment with
\ndemocracy. If the present experiment is to last, this country's
\npolitical leaders would be well advised to spend some effort on
\nturning themselves into real statesmen, rather than mere
\npoliticians.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-statesmen-needed-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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