What's up Gus?<\/p>\n
For the past six months, the nation has learned to cope with
\nthe eccentricities of President Abdurrahman Wahid's leadership.
\nPeople in this country are actually beginning to accept his
\nunconventional and at times controversial style as long as he
\ndelivers the goods. As many of his supporters would say, judge
\nnot the President by the process, but by his achievements.<\/p>\n
The way he tamed the wayward Indonesian Military (TNI) and the
\nway he disposed of TNI strongman Gen. Wiranto, are some of the
\nfine examples of his unconventional but successful formula in
\nleading this nation on the reform path towards a civil society.
\nMany people are even willing to give him the benefit of the doubt
\nwhen he fired two of his top economics ministers last month, if
\nit means strengthening his grip over the direction of economic
\npolicy.<\/p>\n
But when Gus Dur, as the President is affectionately called,
\nappointed his younger brother Hasyim Wahid, or Gus Im, to the
\npost of deputy at the Indonesia Banking Restructuring Agency
\n(IBRA), the President may have crossed the line of propriety.<\/p>\n
All his maneuvers, including the appointment and firing of
\nCabinet members, have been within the constitutional limitations
\naccorded to his office. Hasyim's appointment undoubtedly falls
\nwithin this category. But the question that the President has to
\nanswer is whether nepotism is proper and ethical.<\/p>\n
Gus Im's appointment betrays the reformation movement which
\nbegan just over two years ago and of which Gus Dur himself was an
\nimportant leader. KKN -- the Indonesian acronym for corruption,
\ncollusion and nepotism -- has become hallmark of the previous
\nregimes of Soeharto and Habibie. It is the very thing that the
\nreformation movement has firmly rejected and hoped to wipe out.<\/p>\n
Fighting KKN became the battle cry for just about every
\npolitical party contesting the general election last June,
\nincluding Gus Dur's own National Awakening Party (PKB). When Gus
\nDur was chosen in October as a compromise president by the main
\nelection winners, naturally, people placed much hope in him to
\nlead the nation in this battle against KKN.<\/p>\n
The appointment of Gus Im to a top post in a strategic agency
\nsuch as IBRA has deflated the people's expectation of Gus Dur's
\nleadership in the anti KKN war. Without any financial background,
\nhe was put in the agency simply by virtue of his connection to
\nthe head of state. And he will undoubtedly invoke his special
\nties with the President as he "knocks on the doors" of IBRA's bad
\ndebtors, telling them it's time to pay up.<\/p>\n
Even assuming that Gus Im's appointment was made with the best
\nof intentions -- to make sure that the government recovers all
\nthe money owed to it by private companies through IBRA -- surely
\nthere are other far more suitable candidates that the President
\ncould have picked without causing a public outcry.<\/p>\n
Viewed from any angle, Gus Im's appointment is nepotism in
\nevery sense of the word. There is no other way of getting around
\nit. One thing that we have learned from the Soeharto and Habibie
\nregimes is that nepotism is so open to abuse and potential
\nconflicts of interests that, sooner or later, it will rear its
\nugly head.<\/p>\n
Gus Im's recruitment could hardly be compared to the
\nappointment of Gus Dur's daughters as the President's assistants
\nbecause their jobs are limited and clearly defined: to physically
\nguide and assist the President who is almost blind. Nor is it
\ncomparable to the appointments of Marsilam Simanjuntak and Bondan
\nGunawan as his secretaries because these two are well known to
\nshare the same democratic visions as the President.<\/p>\n
There is no justification for the appointment of his brother
\nto a high-level position in IBRA. By defending the appointment,
\nthe President has undermined the trust that the nation gave him
\nin October. For his own good as well as the nation's, Gus Dur
\nshould remove his brother, or better still, Gus Im should
\nvoluntarily resign from IBRA. By keeping Gus Im in IBRA, the
\nPresident's image and credibility, and therefore popular support,
\nwill go steadily downhill.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/whats-up-gus-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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