Observers call for laws to protect former presidents<\/p>\n
By Haryoso<\/p>\n
SEMARANG (JP): Two political observers have called for the
\nestablishment of laws to protect former presidents and vice
\npresidents.<\/p>\n
Riswandha Imawan, a political scientist at the Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that
\nthose laws, for instance, should effectively protect \"the
\nbusiness ventures of the leaders to cushion their entrance into
\nold age\".<\/p>\n
Yasin Tasrief, an expert on international law at Diponegoro
\nUniversity here, said that it has now become an urgent matter for
\nIndonesia to establish such laws.<\/p>\n
Both experts said that, despite the prevailing Javanese
\nculture, which teaches respect to the elderly and former leaders,
\nunpleasant political consequences may emerge unless such laws are
\nestablished.<\/p>\n
Riswandha said that, up until now, the nation has experienced
\nonly one instance of political leadership succession, and that
\nwas in the middle of the 1960s.<\/p>\n
\"It was not a very pleasant experience,\" he said, referring to
\nthe 1965 abortive coup of the now-outlawed Indonesian Communist
\nParty, and the massive street protests which preceded the
\ntransfer of national leadership in 1967.<\/p>\n
Among the consequences of the traumatic succession, he said,
\nwas that \"not only the former head of state, but also people
\naround him, including his children and relatives, have had to
\nbear an unpleasant burden\".<\/p>\n
He attributed the situation to what he described as tumpes
\nkelor, meaning vengeance or vendetta, in the prevailing Javanese
\npolitical culture, in which the victor of a conflict would do
\neverything possible to eliminate all traces of the defeated.<\/p>\n
\"The tradition of vendetta used to be physical in nature, but
\nnow it's non-physical,\" Riswandha said.<\/p>\n
An example of the non-physical assaults against the
\ndescendants of a defeated or former leader is the campaign to
\nrestrict their activities and space, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This element of tumpes kelor should be eliminated,\" he said.
\n\"Minor mistakes shouldn't be used as grounds to discard all the
\ngood deeds that a former leader has done, especially if those
\ngood deeds are done for the whole nation.\"<\/p>\n
Riswandha was referring to the fate of the late Sukarno,
\nIndonesia's first president who, along with former vice president
\nMohammad Hatta, proclaimed the country's independence in 1945.<\/p>\n
Riswandha said Indonesia needs to establish at least one law
\nto protect the dignity, charisma and the safety of people who
\nhave given much to the nation, including former presidents and
\nvice presidents.<\/p>\n
Hatta<\/p>\n
He said that in 1976, Hatta requested the then Jakarta
\ngovernor, Ali Sadikin, that he be exempted from having to pay
\nland tax because of his small pension. \"It was a very sorry
\nsituation. Imagine a man, who had done so much for this country,
\nhad to request such a thing,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The existing protocol for former presidents and vice
\npresidents covers only certain rights, such as the opportunity to
\nlive in an official residence or to obtain local officials'
\nassistance when they travel, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This is not enough. What if this former leader takes a stroll
\nto a market place and gets mobbed by people?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Riswandha, who obtained his doctorate from Northern Illinois
\nUniversity, compared the Indonesian situation, regarding the
\nlaws, with that in the United States. \"They already have such
\nlaws, so I think we can learn from them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yasin said, that unless such laws are established, there is
\nalways the possibility that \"new leaders may, for political
\nreasons, violate the basic rights of the former presidents and
\nvice presidents\".<\/p>\n
However, Yasin is optimistic that such arbitrary actions will
\nnot occur because the nation still upholds another Javanese
\nprinciple, mikul duwur mendem jero, which means that people
\nshould show respect towards elderly people, or leaders, by
\n\"honoring them highly and concealing their mistakes\".<\/p>\n
\"Indonesian people still uphold this principle,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said a convention in the field of international law
\nstipulates such protection for certain people, and there is no
\nreason why the convention cannot be applied in this nation's law
\nas well.<\/p>\n
\"The House of Representatives should start considering the
\nneed for such laws, so that former leaders will not have to be
\nsubjected to indignities,\" Yasin said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/observers-call-for-laws-to-protect-former-presidents-1447893297",
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