A question of relevance

Now, there's an interesting question in your June 20 editorial: Is Golkar still relevant, given its past blemished record? Taking relevance in its broadest sense -- i.e. having a bearing on, or being pertinent to, the present situation -- it is difficult to see how Golkar could be, well, irrelevant. Until the party disbands, it remains relevant. But over the past two months, gallons of ink have been spent and airwaves kept rocking with the thunder of calls for a session of the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly (DPR/MPR), be it plenary, extraordinary or both. So with Golkar as the ruling party still, let's look at a few things and see whether it is relevant or, better still, should be made irrelevant. First, Soeharto (still Golkar's generalissimo), during his final moments as head of state, sidelined DPR/MPR by appointing the vice president as president. Note also that if a session is held, he would be entitled to be present at it. Second, whole blocks of groups as well as individual members, like so many rats leaving a sinking ship, have left both bodies. This means, of course, that they have recanted on the oath they took last year to represent the people. Suppose a session does take place, would the Musyawarah Kekeluargaan Gotong Royong (MKGR), which has turned its back on Golkar, the party it joined and through which it gained seats, still be legally entitled to take part? Third, even the speaker of both the MPR and the DPR, Harmoko, has said that he'd be willing to step down provided it goes through constitutional procedures. And fourth, one of the vice chairpersons of Golkar's central executive committee is Mrs. Siti Hardijanti Rukmana whose name needs no further elaboration.

Indonesia is a country that since its independence has had nothing but a top-down system of authority, a system that trivializes the most important component without which there is no raison d'etre for any nation: the people.

This renders the existence of institutions such as a representative assembly, even a constitution, totally unnecessary. Of course, the reform movement endeavors to change all this, but for the moment this top-down condition remains unchanged. Hence one must expect that one day, sooner or later, there will again be a bunch of people garbed in yellow, green and red jackets parading about in the legislature. The only suggestion I would venture is that they keep those jackets tightly buttoned if only to reduce the stench of decay in the chambers.

GUS KAIRUPAN

Jakarta