RI needs major resuscitation<\/p>\n
By Donna K. Woodward<\/p>\n
MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Gradual reform is going nowhere.
\nDiscontent is escalating. The stage is set for revolution.
\nGovernments do not like the \"R\" word. They fear it.
\nUnderstanding the perils, even ardent reform-minded critics of
\nthe status quo now caution against revolution as a way out of
\ncrisis.<\/p>\n
Is revolution an unalloyed evil? Should revolutionary
\nstirrings be repressed? Consider the American Revolution:
\nAmerica's leaders would not disavow that as a negative event.
\nRussians may now reject totalitarian Communism, but few would
\nregret their great-grandparents' revolution against the
\noppressive Russian aristocracy.<\/p>\n
There are revolutions that begin as revolts against unjust
\nregimes but fail to achieve humanitarian objectives; they
\nthemselves become repressive, as in Cuba's case. Nevertheless,
\nagainst state-enabled injustice, revolution may be the only
\nescape.<\/p>\n
When politicians talk about change, they advise that change
\nshould be evolutionary. Regardless of how odious the status quo
\nmight be for those subject to it, authorities warn against
\nsudden, major transitions.<\/p>\n
They contend that revolutions violate public order and human
\nrights. They confuse revolution with war and the violence and
\nfanaticism that typically accompany revolutions-but, it needs
\nsaying, do not define them.<\/p>\n
Revolution is less about violence than about changes in
\npolitical and economic relationships. This, not violence, might
\nbe what scares the power elites the most about revolution.
\nWitness the daily violence that is tolerated by the government
\nnow.)<\/p>\n
At the risk of sounding subversive, leaders must begin to say
\nit: Indonesia needs a revolution. Not a revolution of arms, but
\na fundamental transformation, beginning now, in all systems of
\ngovernance.<\/p>\n
In place of true reform, politicians have offered half-
\nmeasures of change that leave a landscape of lawlessness, despair
\nand prolonged suffering. Indonesia urgently needs to convert the
\ncurrent system into one that ensures justice and the fruits of
\nliberty for everyone.<\/p>\n
How will this conversion be brought about? By leaders
\nenergized by a revolutionary spirit of reform. In a recent
\ninterview with this newspaper young leader of People's Democratic
\nParty Budiman Sudjatmiko pleaded that a new generation be given
\ntheir chance to lead.<\/p>\n
But where are the leaders who will be different from those now
\nin authority? Who are the men and women who will not descend
\ninto the usual slimy ways of doing business when they ascend to
\npositions of power? We look for the signs of revolutionary
\nleadership.<\/p>\n
Fortunately we have examples of it in Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson
\nMandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others closer to home. What these
\nleaders have in common is a willingness to make long-term
\nsacrifices of personal comfort, wealth and conventional success,
\nto accomplish goals that will bring concrete benefits to their
\ncommunities.<\/p>\n
Their lifestyles witness the values they profess. Their
\nambition is for service, not for the trappings of status and
\npossessions. Few conventional politicians are made in this
\nrevolutionary mold.<\/p>\n
Can legislature members hold a candle to Nelson Mandela, 27
\nyears imprisoned rather than compromise his reformer's integrity?
\nThe political field is littered with self-promoting demagogues
\nwho manipulate authentic patriotism and religious zeal and fan
\nthem into fanaticism.<\/p>\n
To second Budiman: It's time for Indonesia's revolutionary
\nspirits to seize the initiative.<\/p>\n
Is revolutionary change possible? Is it possible to change a
\ncommunity's culture within a generation, from one that tolerates
\ncorruption to one that demands transparency and reform? Malcolm
\nX once challenged those who said that attitudes could not be
\nchanged quickly, with the following example.<\/p>\n
He reminded us that during World War II the United States
\ngovernment began a propaganda campaign to convince Americans that
\nGermans were our enemies and America's wartime allies, the
\nRussians, were our friends.<\/p>\n
Then after the war the U.S. government set out on a second
\ncampaign to reverse attitudes; now Germans (our partners in post-
\nwar Europe) were our allies and Russians (our Cold War
\nantagonists) were not to be trusted. In the space of a dozen
\nyears the nation twice went through profound changes in feelings,
\nbeliefs, and ways of behaving.<\/p>\n
Malcolm X used this example to refute those who thought that
\nattitudes could not be changed within a generation. His lesson
\nmay have applications vis-a-vis reform and corruption. It may
\nnot be as impossible as the political elite would have us believe
\nto introduce revolutionary reform measures.<\/p>\n
Before the 1999 elections some said that Indonesians were not
\nready for democracy. But people were. Some said that Indonesians
\nwere not ready for reform; people were, as the popular response
\nto the 1998 change of government proved.<\/p>\n
Now reform is dying a slow death and needs emergency
\nresuscitation. Some will say that Indonesians aren't ready for
\nrevolutionary reform measures. They surely are, if it will lead
\nto greater prosperity and justice. They are if authority figures
\nencourage it, first of all by example.<\/p>\n
Those who resist major reforms are the small but powerful
\nminority who benefit so disproportionately under the status quo.
\nThey should look out their windows and see the violence and
\npoverty and suffering in the streets.<\/p>\n
To them, gradual reform may no longer be an option. The
\nchoice may be serious governance reform on the one hand and
\nviolent anarchy on the other. If there is doubt about this, Aceh
\nand West Papua are legacies of the government's failure to
\nimplement reforms in time.<\/p>\n
Sometimes only leaders who offer revolutionary alternatives to
\nwidespread injustice can defuse mass violence. American president
\nJohn F. Kennedy once said, \"He who does not make peaceful change
\npossible makes violent change inevitable.\"<\/p>\n
Revolutionary change might be not Indonesia's ruin, but it's
\nonly hope.<\/p>\n
The writer, an attorney and former American diplomat at the U.S.
\nConsulate General in Medan, is president director of PT Far
\nHorizons management consultancy.<\/p>",
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