Society must be watchdog over sweeping changes<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): There are two dangerous tendencies in our
\nthinking about the current reform movement. One is the idea that
\nreform should be carried out primarily by the government, and two
\nthat reform really can be accomplished through mere sweeping
\nchanges in our bureaucratic and legal systems.<\/p>\n
It is indeed true that the government has a very important
\nrole to play in carrying out the reform that we all aspire to,
\nbut without society's participation in it I doubt that the social
\nills that have finally made us cry out for reform can be removed.<\/p>\n
I doubt, for instance, that democracy can be restored and
\npromoted in our society without the public exercising control
\nover what the bureaucracy is doing in this respect.<\/p>\n
Building democracy in a society like ours is a long process.
\nIf we are not constantly vigilant it is quite possible that
\nefforts to restore democracy will only last a short while and
\nthat it will soon be followed by gradual and systematic attempts
\nto curtail and finally destroy our democratic institutions.<\/p>\n
The various forms of pseudodemocracy like \"protected
\ndemocracy\" in Chile, \"semidemocracy\" in El Salvador, Colombia and
\nParaguay, and \"people's democracy\" in North Korea are evidence
\nthat democratic systems can backslide without the society being
\naware of the ongoing process.<\/p>\n
In our own country, what happened from 1971 to 1997 was a
\ngradual and engineered destruction of our democratic system which
\nbloomed between 1966 and 1969.<\/p>\n
To heal our society of various economic \"diseases\" that have
\nfinally destroyed our economic fundamentals, public participation
\nis equally imperative. Attempts to wipe out corruption,
\ncollusion, and nepotism from our economic system cannot possibly
\nsucceed without the public watching closely and scrutinizing what
\nour economic institutions, our bureaucrats, and other economic
\nplayers are doing.<\/p>\n
The transformation of our cooperatives from social
\ninstitutions into mere extensions of the bureaucracy, which
\nsubsequently were misused as instruments to rob the people and
\nprivate enterprises, is a result of public ignorance about and
\nindifference toward bureaucratic manipulations.<\/p>\n
Then we have the question of what kind of reform we all want.
\nDo we want a thorough reform or shall we be satisfied with mere
\ncosmetic reform?<\/p>\n
The current reform movement can be carried out either in a
\nsuperficial or thorough manner. If it is carried out
\nsuperficially then it will certainly not bring about significant
\nand lasting changes in our society. It will not weed out the
\nsystemic defects that have eroded our political, economic, and
\nlegal systems.<\/p>\n
If, on the other hand, it is carried out in a thorough manner,
\nthere is hope that the social ills that have plagued our society
\nfor the last 20 to 25 years can be removed in a definitive
\nmanner, and our society will then undergo a healing process that
\nultimately will propel it into robust growth and development.<\/p>\n
And only then will we be able to penetrate what Larry Diamond
\ncalls \"the threshold of democracy\" and enter into a genuine
\ndemocratic system.<\/p>\n
What are the roots of our social ills?<\/p>\n
I think that in the final analysis the roots of all our social
\nills lie in our minds. The various deformations of our democratic
\nsystem have been made possible by our silence every time we
\nencountered government measures to curtail or compromise the
\nbasic principles of democracy.<\/p>\n
Our economy has been crippled by our silence every time we
\nfaced government manipulation aimed at fooling the public
\nconcerning the status of our economic condition at any given
\ntime. And our judicial institutions have been badly compromised
\nand corrupted because we have been silent every time the
\nexecutive body twisted the logic of law enforcement.<\/p>\n
What is the cause of all these forms of silence? Ignorance,
\nindifference and fear on the public's side, and transgression of
\nreason and decency on the side of the power holders, both within
\nand outside the government.<\/p>\n
The most glaring example of this is the distortion of the word
\n\"constitutional\" by former president Soeharto. He used the word
\nconstitutional in a very arbitrary manner to suit his political
\ninterests and imposed his interpretation on the public by
\nthreatening that anyone trying to dispose of him in an
\n\"unconstitutional\" manner would be clobbered.<\/p>\n
And we remained silent for fear that speaking our mind would
\njeopardize our personal safety. But many among us, who were
\nsilent, knew exactly what was really going on.<\/p>\n
Another example is the claim that the appointment of Siti
\nHardijanti Rukmana, or Tutut, as minister of social affairs was
\nnot nepotism. With this assertion, the Soeharto gang wanted to
\ndistort the meaning of the word nepotism.<\/p>\n
No matter how hard one tries, according to sound, normal
\nreasoning it was a practice of nepotism but they persisted in
\nimposing their distortion upon the public's mind. And the
\nmajority among us, people who are still sane, preferred to be
\nsilent about this.<\/p>\n
Do we sincerely want to pursue reform in a thorough manner? If
\nwe do, then each one of us has the obligation to reject any
\nattempt to distort concepts and to twist logic in a consistent
\nmanner. We can no longer afford to remain silent in facing
\ndistortions and twists that endanger our future, both politically
\nand economically.<\/p>\n
Capitulation to forces that distort concepts and twist logic
\nmean flight from reason. It should be noted in this regard that
\nflight from reason has occurred in human history and not only by
\nignorant people but by great minds as well.<\/p>\n
Paul R. Gross, professor of biology at the University of
\nVirginia, reported that even William Blake (1757-1827), a noted
\nEnglish poet and artist, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-
\n1832), the famous poet, novelist and scientist, made this
\nmistake.<\/p>\n
William Blake rejected all forms of inquiry upon which modern
\nscience was built, while Goethe \"opposed the very reasoning that
\nallowed science to escape the straitjacket of naturphilosophie\".<\/p>\n
If even great minds can make the mistake of abandoning reason,
\nwe ordinary human beings are prone to make the same mistake. If
\nwe sincerely wish not to repeat our past mistakes, each one of us
\nhas to be constantly alert to the temptation to desert reason.<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/society-must-be-watchdog-over-sweeping-changes-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }