A reminder of past pledges

A reminder of past pledges

This is the first of two articles on the promises made by the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) by
Paige Johnson, a Ph.D. student at the University of Virginia in
the United States and Julia Suryakusuma, executive director of
the API (Almanac of Indonesian Politics) Foundation in Jakarta.

JAKARTA (JP): In 1999, the API Foundation published the
Indonesian Political Party Almanac (Almanak Parpol Indonesia-
API). It aimed to encourage Indonesia's burgeoning political
parties to make concrete their programs and plans for the
country, by putting on record their stands on various issues.

It was hoped that this would help to push the development of
political parties in a healthy direction of competing on the
basis of ideas rather than on the basis of the numerous ethnic,
cultural, religious, and linguistic schisms.

How much politics we have experienced since the Almanak was
published in 1999! Indonesia has seen its first free general
election in more than 40 years. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) was
elected president and then removed from the post by the MPR.

We've seen inter-ethnic violence, Gus Dur traveling the world,
East Timor going its own way, ready-to-die squads, Tommy Soeharto
on the run and Soeharto declared too ill to stand
trial.

Then there were the scandals of "Buloggate," "Bruneigate",
regional autonomy, Gus Dur's stand-offs with military and police
generals Wiranto and Bimantoro, political terror like bombings
and murders -- the list goes on.

Finally, Megawati Soekarnoputri assumed the presidency, the
position her party believed was her due as a result of PDI
Perjuangan's plurality of the vote in the general election.

Because so much has happened since 1999, it is easy to forget
the promises that political parties made at that time. Especially
since President Megawati came to power on the back of a coalition
of political parties, compromise is obviously now necessary.

Still, as the President thinks about the longer term of her
administration, the general tenor of what she hopes to accomplish
between now and 2004, it is important for her to remember the
promises PDI Perjuangan made to voters, promises that got her the
votes to enable her to sit where she is today.

To quote Megawati herself in her July 1999 post-election
speech, "the sovereignty of the people, which echoed around the
world at the moment the Indonesian national election commenced,
cannot be diverted and manipulated to become merely the
sovereignty of the MPR." So, we need to remember the promises
that PDI Perjuangan made to the people.

It is easy to say that these promises were just campaign
rhetoric and of little meaning. But scholars in the advanced
democracies have found a strong link between party platforms and
what parties eventually do in office. Party platforms are clearly
not meaningless.

As Indonesia hopes to march down the road to consolidating its
democracy, party platforms should not be meaningless. As
Megawati herself told Newsweek, "We must not talk too much and
promise more than we can deliver." Now that Megawati is
president, it is time to deliver.

The main thrust of her party's promises in 1999 was reform,
"reforms that are substantial and fundamental, as demanded by the
people." Megawati made it clear in interviews that the reform
had to be gradual because of Indonesia's social fragility; but
reform, even if gradual, still leads to fundamental change.

Reviewing Megawati's speeches, PDI Perjuangan's printed materials, and
the API profile of PDI Perjuangan's positions on the issues, we
can break down PDI Perjuangan's basic promises into two areas:
building the institutions of democracy and helping Indonesia
overcome its prolonged economic crisis.

Because attention since Megawati's assumption of power has
been focused on her economic team and overcoming the economic
crisis, it would be most productive here to remember promises
made on consolidating Indonesian democracy.

From the party congress in October 1998, PDI Perjuangan stressed that
is was a party of "fighters for democracy." The party promised
to make fundamental changes to the system of government which had
allowed Soeharto to accumulate excessive power.

The party hoped to establish a judiciary that was fair to all
Indonesians and independent of executive influence. That
judiciary should be free of corruption and intimidation as well.

Quoting Megawati at the above Kongres Perjuangan: "Anyone who
has broken the law or violated basic human rights will most
definitely be brought to trial without exception, be they
ordinary citizens or high officials, including former officials
who must be held responsible for their actions under the law."

This sounds like a solemn pledge to the Indonesian people.

The party clung to the importance of the 1945 Constitution,
but was finally willing to consider a series of constitutional
amendments to improve the democratic quality of the Indonesian
government.

The constitution was vague, PDI Perjuangan said, on the issue of
separation of powers, a structural problem which was abused
during Soeharto's presidency. The recent crisis over Gus Dur's
impeachment demonstrates that continued room for differing
interpretations of the Constitution's separation of powers
provisions exists.

PDI Perjuangan expressed hopes of building a system of
government motored by an empowered and cultivated citizenry, an
important bulwark of democracy. The PDI Perjuangan hoped that
the people would be involved in government at all levels, that
they be included in "policy formulation and all aspects of
national life."

The people, too, should be encouraged to better themselves.
Megawati often spoke of the need for the people to improve their
spiritual selves as well as their level of education. To help
improve education, the party hoped to end the practice of school
drop outs, to improve the lot of teachers, and to increase the
autonomy of educational institutions to foster intellectual
freedom.

The party talked often about justice and the law-based state
-- important preconditions for Indonesia to deal with its past
and build a democratic future.