2001 marked by moral decadence, analyst says

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A political analyst says that 2001 has been marked by excessive immoral practices on the part of politicians, ranging from corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) to the abuse of power.

This phenomenon, which Hermawan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has labeled moral decadence, is expected to continue over the next few years or at least until the next general election in 2004.

Hermawan said on Monday evening that, throughout this year, money politics and other corrupt practices had become increasingly widespread in all three of the country's key political institutions -- the legislature, the judiciary and the executive.

"We can see a politician starting his career driving a Toyota Kijang van who has a Jaguar within just two years," he said when speaking about political trends during 2001.

Hermawan said another political phenomenon in 2001 was the excessive abuse of power by nearly all politicians.

If during Soeharto's repressive presidency many officials misused power merely for economic motives, top officials now frequently used their positions in the state apparatus to advance the interests of their political parties or to further their own political careers, he said.

He gave as examples actions taken by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Vice President Hamzah Haz, Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil and Justice and Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

According to Hermawan, after Hamzah was elected Vice President he devoted much more of his time to his duties as chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) than he did to his vice presidential duties.

"This can be seen from what he was doing when he made regional visits, where nearly 70 percent of his guests had a connection with political parties or at least with his own political party."

Hermawan said Matori, Yusril and also Hamzah used their positions in the state apparatus to strengthen their standing in their political parties, which had been hit by internal conflicts. "If Yusril and Matori didn't hold cabinet positions, I think they would have lost their positions in their parties," he added.

Meanwhile, Kusnanto Anggoro, a military analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), focused on the substantial role played by the military in politics throughout the year.

As a clear example of this, he pointed to the military's rejection of the imposition of a state of emergency declared by then president Abdurrahman Wahid in July as he fought to hold on to power.

"Whatever the reason, it was strange that the military did not abide by a policy decreed by the president, as the highest military commander," said Kusnanto at a year-end political and military review held by the Centre for Political Studies.

But in general he admitted that demilitarization had proceeded well, particularly in the sense that the military now no longer had the "veto" rights it enjoyed during the New Order era. "At that time we could not say no to the military, but now such veto rights have been eliminated," Kusnanto said.

He added that there were still several remnants of a military role in the socio-political realm. The first related to the military's territorial role, which still affects the political mechanism in the regions, particularly in relation to elections for regents and governors.

"We still do not know when such a territorial function will be totally eliminated," said Kusnanto.

The second is the military function, which is still untouchable and difficult to solve. On the one hand the military function is still needed as long as the state doesn't provide the military with an adequate budget. On the other hand, its business role is no longer relevant, given the current reform process.