Turning personal cult mood into democracy<\/p>\n
By Mochtar Buchori<\/p>\n
DENPASAR (JP); Why have people joined Megawati's faction of
\nthe Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI Perjuangan)? Is it because
\nthey worship Megawati, or because they are committed to
\ndemocracy? Isn't it dangerous if people join PDI Perjuangan
\nbecause they worship Megawati?<\/p>\n
I have been asked these questions so many times by so many
\npeople; from broadcasters at the BBC, both in the English and
\nIndonesian programs, to foreign journalists based in Indonesia,
\nforeign academics who visited Megawati's PDI congress here,
\nIndonesian journalists who look very democratic, to members of an
\nassociation of expatriate women who are curious about Megawati's
\npersonality.<\/p>\n
To be honest, I do not have enough information to answer these
\nquestions accurately. What I know is that people have joined PDI
\nPerjuangan or have given their sympathy to Megawati for various
\ndifferent reasons.<\/p>\n
There are a great number of people who have decided to support
\nMegawati because she is Sukarno's daughter and they look upon her
\nas an icon of Indonesian nationalism. Next to this group, there
\nare a great deal of people who have joined Megawati's PDI because
\nthey trust her, admire her and also because they believe she can
\nbring about significant improvements in our societal conditions.<\/p>\n
Is that individual worship, a personal cult? May be so. But
\nthere are also people who have decided to join Megawati because
\nthey see in her a leader who has the courage to stand up against
\narbitrary wrongdoing perpetrated by the power holders from the
\nSoeharto regime. In the eyes of such followers, until today,
\nMegawati is still crusading against injustice.<\/p>\n
I, for one, decided to join Megawati's forces in 1994 not
\nbecause I worship her. I have admired her, yes, but not worship
\nher. Individual worship is a thing of the distant past in my
\nlife. I joined Megawati's PDI because at that time I saw her as
\nthe only party leader who really cares for democracy.<\/p>\n
After being a member of Golkar for twelve years I was
\nconvinced that Golkar was not genuinely interested in building
\ndemocracy in Indonesia. What I saw in Golkar at that time was a
\npure political machine serving the interests of the Soeharto
\nregime.<\/p>\n
I agree, that it is indeed dangerous if people join Megawati's
\nPDI for the sole reason that they worship her. What is to be done
\nin such a case?<\/p>\n
The party must guide and educate such followers to gradually
\nshift their loyalty, from being loyal to the person Megawati to
\nbeing loyal to the ideal of democracy.<\/p>\n
This is a process which must be attempted willfully and
\nconsciously and not taken for granted. Such a psychological
\nprocess never occurs automatically.<\/p>\n
It is like the process of guiding children to respect and
\nuphold values and norms. If at the beginning stage children learn
\nto obey their parents and teachers, slowly but consistently they
\nmust learn to obey values and norms.<\/p>\n
At some point in their life they must understand that their
\nchildhood respect for parents and teachers represented their
\nrespect for values and norms that their parents and teachers
\nstood for.<\/p>\n
Attempting such a process and keeping such a process alive is
\nthe essence of education towards adulthood. It is the moral
\nobligation of PDI and other political parties to bring their less
\nenlightened members to political adulthood.<\/p>\n
Another question that I have been frequently asked is whether
\nMegawati is a person who can really be considered democratic.<\/p>\n
This question is especially popular among foreigners,
\njournalists and non-journalists alike. They point at her
\nlifestyle, at her fancy for luxurious things and at her seeming
\nlack of familiarity with the realities of life among the poor, as
\nindications supporting their belief that she is not a true
\ndemocrat, but a person with strong feudalistic inclinations.<\/p>\n
I don't know! I don't think it is ethical for me to judge the
\ncategory of Megawati's personal value systems along the feudal-
\ndemocracy continuum. I still believe that she is committed to
\ndemocracy. If at some point later I am no longer sure that she is
\nstill a democrat, then what I have to do is to ask her that
\nquestion bluntly but privately, and remind her that we have to
\nhonor our pledge to promote democracy for the sake of providing
\nthe future generations with enough grounds to build a really
\ndecent society in this country.<\/p>\n
Democracy is not an all-or-none thing. Democracy is also not
\nonly a political system. It is a way of life that at the end
\nconstitutes the basis for democratic political systems.<\/p>\n
And if I understand democracy well, its very essence is
\nrespect for other human beings, irrespective of religion, race,
\nsocial status and wealth.<\/p>\n
In this sense, it is impossible to have a democratic society
\nin Indonesia if the majority of the Indonesian people, especially
\nits elite and its leaders, do not share personal value systems
\nwhich make respect for other human beings an imperative.<\/p>\n
And it is precisely this particular value which is lacking in
\nother systems, including feudalism. For this reason I believe
\nthat every Indonesian who spent some part of his or her life in
\nan environment imbued with feudalistic practices must have traces
\nof feudalism in him or her.<\/p>\n
Even within the most democratic Indonesians of the \"older
\ngenerations\", I think there are personal inclinations that are
\nincompatible with democratic practices, especially if measured
\nwith yardsticks commonly used in older democratic societies.<\/p>\n
The point is therefore not whether a person is sufficiently
\ndemocratic at a given stage in his or her life, but whether he or
\nshe becomes increasingly more democratic or increasingly anti-
\ndemocratic during his or her lifetime.<\/p>\n
If this country is to develop into a genuinely democratic
\nsociety it is the duty of every citizen to continuously reexamine
\nand increase his or her commitment to democratic values.<\/p>\n
It is also the civic duty of every Indonesian citizen to help
\nhis or her fellow Indonesians to become more democratic. Merely
\njudging others as non-democratic or insufficiently democratic
\ndoes not contribute anything to the building of democracy.<\/p>\n
The writer is an observer of social and cultural affairs.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/turning-personal-cult-mood-into-democracy-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }