Stand up for 'wong cilik'<\/p>\n
Is anyone up there in the government still defending and
\nfighting for the wong cilik, the Javanese term Indonesian
\npoliticians fondly use to refer to the little people?<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and her Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), are fast shedding
\ntheir image and reputation as the leader and the party for wong
\ncilik, which they carved for themselves so as to earn them
\nvictory in the 1999 general election.<\/p>\n
The government's decision to hike the prices of utilities at
\nthe start of the year may have been an inevitable economic
\nnecessity. But because it came so close to President Megawati's
\ndecision to waive criminal charges against big time corruptors,
\nshe is sending the wrong message about her own commitment to
\nhelping the lot of the wong cilik, her party's main constituents.<\/p>\n
The massive price hikes clearly mean additional economic
\nburdens for everyone, and most of all, for the working class.<\/p>\n
But the decision to free heavily indebted tycoons, who brought
\nthe nation to its present state of near bankruptcy, from the
\npossibility of criminal prosecution means that the burden of the
\neconomic crisis is not being shared equally by society. Far from
\nit.<\/p>\n
These tycoons have left in their trail massive unpaid debts
\nthat the government has had to assume. And it will take at least
\nan entire generation of taxpayers to pay them off.<\/p>\n
The way they incurred these debts, through corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism, is legendary. They literally robbed the
\nnation. Yet, the government has now decided that the corporate
\nassets that the tycoons surrendered will be good enough to cover
\ntheir entire debts, although in many cases they barely amount to
\na fifth of the value of what they owe.<\/p>\n
Hence, Megawati on Thursday signed a presidential instruction
\nto release the tycoons from their obligations, and to discharge
\nthem from criminal liability arising from these debt problems.
\nThanks to her personal decision, these tycoons are about to walk
\nfree, after inflicting untold misery on the rest of the nation.<\/p>\n
How is this release and discharge policy related to the policy
\nof increasing utility prices besides their close timing?<\/p>\n
The two are related in the sense that they reflect how the
\nburden of the economic crisis is being apportioned. And let's
\nnever forget, the present economic crisis, and the reason why
\nutility prices were hiked at the New Year, was largely caused by
\nthe thieving tycoons.<\/p>\n
The hikes in electricity, fuel and telephone charges are
\nburdensome but should have been more palatable as there are valid
\neconomic rationales for their imposition. Besides, these were
\nperiodic increases that had been largely accepted before.<\/p>\n
What makes this month's hikes different is that they come at a
\ntime when the people's sense of justice and fairness has been
\nhurt by a series of controversial decisions, the most important
\nof which is the release and discharge policy. The thieves walk
\nfree while the rest of the nation is made to pay for their
\nmisdeeds.<\/p>\n
The government is increasingly earning a reputation of being
\npro-business for all the wrong reasons, for it is helping out
\nbusiness tycoons who have records of criminal wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
We may recall that this is not the first time that the
\nMegawati administration has betrayed the very voters who helped
\nher party win the 1999 election.<\/p>\n
Last year, she personally intervened in the Jakarta
\ngubernatorial election to ensure the reelection of the incumbent
\nSutiyoso, even though he still faces criminal charges for the
\nbrutal attack against Megawati's supporters in Jakarta in 1996.<\/p>\n
The small folks today have every right to feel that they have
\nbeen abandoned or even betrayed by their party. Megawati and her
\nPDI Perjuangan are fast losing the support of the people,
\nespecially of their own constituents, the wong cilik.<\/p>\n
The government may be standing on solid constitutional ground
\nuntil the 2004 election in spite of the massive price hikes, but
\nits popular legitimacy is fast ebbing. President Megawati must
\nheed the lessons from the last year of the Soeharto regime, and
\nthe brief administrations of B.J. Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid,
\nnamely, that without popular legitimacy, you simply cannot govern
\neffectively.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/stand-up-for-wong-cilik-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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