A curse on the presidency

A curse on the presidency

The use of the word curse might sound a little too extreme,
but in my limited knowledge of the English language, I could not
find a better word which might soften the meaning.

Let us talk about our first president, Sukarno, more popularly
known as Bung Karno, who was not only admired and adored
domestically, but internationally as well. He was a great
politician and freedom fighter. His fluency in the use of several
international languages, his personal charm, his gift as an
orator captured the hearts and minds of Indonesians. The
Indonesian people knew that Bung Karno was a real freedom
fighter, ready to sacrifice everything to achieve independence
for the Indonesian people. Even in the Dutch time, when the Dutch
were at their strongest position, Bung Karno took up the cause of
freedom, and for that he went to prison several times.

But then, as an ambitious politician, he started to make
mistakes; and his biggest one was to lean too much toward the
communists which ultimately caused his downfall. The national
hero, who was proclaimed as the Great Leader of the Revolution
and appointed by the provisional People's Consultative Assembly
(MPRS) as a president for life, became the victim of an ambitious
communist party which caused his dishonorable downfall.

Let us now look at Soeharto, who became the second president
of Indonesia because of his courage and resolute steps in
fighting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). From an almost
unknown general he became president and reigned with an iron
fist, which brought economic development and succeeded in
increasing the welfare of the people. Whether you like or dislike
Soeharto, you cannot deny that he brought improvements to the
life of the people.

I personally find that Soeharto was a good president,
considering his educational background and political experiences.
He was really a self-made man. But slowly because of the taste of
success, he began to forget himself and became "dictatorial" and
would not allow anyone to oppose him and that is why he explained
that in Indonesian democracy there is no place for opposition.

His children, smelling opportunity and power in the hands of
their father, began to undermine the sincere Soeharto and misuse
his love and affection for their benefit in accumulating wealth.
In no time, the children became rich through preferential
treatment, misusing their father's power and influence.

Because of this, Soeharto wanted to stay in power as long as
possible and a weak MPR did not have the courage to oppose him,
although it had the power. The MPR agreed to whatever Soeharto
wished and this signaled the beginning of his downfall.

Soeharto faced the same fate as Sukarno and had to leave his
position dishonorably. Forgotten were all his merits and he had
to leave the political arena as a suspect of being the initiator
of corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) practices and will
face the court. But unlike Sukarno, he left with an accumulation
of wealth the amount of which is still unknown and perhaps never
will be.

Let us see what happened to the third president, B.J. Habibie.
In his short term, he made many mistakes due to his inexperience
in state and political matters. He is a brilliant technician, but
as a politician he is a big zero. Despite criticism and
demonstrations he tried to hang on but he failed miserably.
Habibie tried very hard to cling to his position, but his
accountability speech, which was rejected by the MPR, killed his
career as a president, and realizing this, he gracefully withdraw
from the presidential race. Another tragic and abnormal end of a
president.

We see that as long as presidents keeps on the right track and
fight for the welfare of the people, God guides and protects
them. But when they start to deviate and become egocentric,
punishment comes. This might be a valuable lesson for future
presidents.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta