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