100 lost opportunities

In his famous work, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez eloquently portrays the tribulations of the Buendias family in the isolated Colombian hamlet of Macondo.

In this tragic epic, nothing turns out as expected. Everything fails, frustration reigns. The slow demise of the Buendias is the result of their inability to develop a realistic sense of themselves -- they are doomed by their own fantasies and subjective desires.

The setting may be different, the outcome less extreme. But Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's placing of the spotlight on the first 100 days of his own administration has led to a widespread sense of disappointment.

Periodic targets and goals are necessary to gauge one's progress in the pursuit of a long-term goal. But the administration appears to have fallen victim to its own publicity machine by proclaiming a fast-track 100-day program. The public now feel deceived and disillusioned at seeing their hopes go unfulfilled.

"One-hundred days" speculation should be left to the media, the narrow-minded and the critics. Anyone even semiliterate knows that a country as despairingly problematic as Indonesia needs at least five years to even begin finding its feet, let alone 100 days.

Clearly, the President was setting himself up for a fall by turning the harsh glare of the public spotlight on his first 100 days.

In fact, the real cause for hope was not the rhetoric and political propaganda, but rather the signs that fundamental policies and attitudes were in place that would be capable of lifting the country out of the economic and political morass into which it had sunk.

It would be totally unrealistic to expect any of the initiatives taken over the last 100 days to have born fruit by this stage.

Be that as it may, the end of the first 100 days of Susilo's presidency is now upon us. Like most other analysts and commentators, we also find ourselves forced to admit that the administration has not registered much in the way of significant progress. In layman's terms, we may say "not bad" (which, of course, does not necessarily mean that it's good, either!).

Susilo's installation as President did inject new vigor and self-confidence into the country, which was sensed around the world. Despite fears by some that Susilo's military background would signal the return of a domineering executive, the President has shown few signs of dogmatism. In fact, it is his Vice President who has been displaying such signs over recent weeks.

Importantly, however, the President has not done too much that is wrong (which, again, does not mean that he's doing things entirely right), over the past three months.

To be fair, much political energy has been exhausted in often needless tussling with the House of Representatives and the political parties. Although the President may not have been directly involved, the resulting tension and strains have diverted attention away from more pressing issues.

The Cabinet, laden with individuals drawn from outside the bureaucracy, is also just beginning to find its feet.

Add to this the massive tragedy in northern Sumatra and subsequent earthquakes and floods across the country, all of which have forced the government to completely reorder its priorities.

In essence, many of the perceived failures of the past 100 days can be attributed to teething problems.

The most significant long-term breakthrough only occurred in the last week: the unveiling of a five-year development plan. It is this road map and its successful implementation by which Susilo and his Cabinet will ultimately be judged.

Rather than failures and accomplishments, we believe the most significant feature of Susilo's term to date has been the opportunities that have been lost over the last three months.

The high levels of popularity and trust he enjoyed during his first weeks in office are unlikely to be repeated. His failure to capitalize on the opportunities these provided by introducing sweeping initiatives represents the squandering of a once-in-a- lifetime chance.

That is not to say that the President has lost the people's confidence, but little by little that confidence is eroding, and will continue to erode.

Measures capable of instilling confidence have not materialized. These need not have been major policies. Small steps -- like ensuring swift justice in high profile cases involving powerful people -- something which the public could directly relate to, would have been just as significant.

Simple things for a simple people -- as Susilo himself pledged -- like peace, a sense of justice and better public welfare, for some reason always seem so complicated from the corridors of power.

Hence, while a fail grade at this juncture would be unfair, the President only has himself to blame for the disillusionment and criticism by promising to do so much during his first 100 days.