Accepting Soeharto once again?

The recent visit of Gus Dur (Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Abdurrahman Wahid) to (former president) Soeharto has raised many questions. It could be that such a move could help bring down the heated political temperature. It could also be that Gus Dur is seeing an invisible hand at play in the current political unrest. It is possible that Gus Dur possesses relevant data concerning the political disturbances. Even so, the standards he is using are far from clear.

One could under the circumstances understand the prevailing suspicions that Gus Dur is playing his cards to the advantage of the political party he is promoting, the National Awakening Party (PKB). This is all the more true since it is generally believed that no single party will be able to win an absolute majority vote in the next general election, which means that alliances and coalitions will have to be formed.

However, giving Soeharto a role to play once again would sting the feelings of the proreform groups. Quite understandably, they would react strongly and reject such an approach by Gus Dur. Aside from the fact that enough victims have fallen on the side of the reformist camp, once again accepting Soeharto would only demonstrate our own stupidity in repeating the same old mistake.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta