... and let's learn from the Polish about peace

If there is something interesting of significance about Poland, it is its history.

In short, the land of Frederic Chopin and Nicholas Copernicus which had disappeared from the political map for 123 years has handled political changes in quite an interesting way after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, thanks to Lech Walesa's struggle with his Solidarnosch.

What should be learned by people here in Indonesia is that the Polish have proven themselves as a nation that cares about the future. Despite the fact that the Communist regime failed to bring prosperity to the people, the social-democratic country has no hard feelings toward those in power during the Communist era.

There are no efforts by the recent government to punish any politicians of the Communist era, nor does the government want to review history.

Boguslaw Zaleski, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a recent meeting with journalists from Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand in Warsaw that there would be no use in punishing anyone from the previous regime.

"We punish them by developing the nation in a proper way. Evaluation of history is somewhat a waste of time as the facts are both known and unknown and the Polish people prefer that historians evaluate the past, while politicians build the future. "The evaluation of the past is not so charming," Zaleski said.

For Indonesia, which claims to have a high sense of humanity, the Polish treatment of former Communist regime officials, could be used as a valuable lesson.

It is probably quite strange for Indonesians to learn that Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski himself has a left- leaning political background. He was the Honorary Member of the Union of Polish Socialist Students (SZSP) from 1977 to 1982, and the Minister for Youth and Chairman of the Committee for Youth from 1985 to 1987. However, he joined the social-democrat government and held a ministerial post in the cabinet from 1988 to 1989. He won his first presidential seat in the 1995 election with 51.7 percent of the vote and garnered 53.9 percent of the vote in the 2000 election which led him to his second term of office.

Indonesia, with its bitter experience with the Communist Party (in the 1948 rebellion and 1965 bloody abortive coup) has its own stories. Those believed or suspected to be against Communism had been eliminated in very brutal ways.

Later on, after the 1965 coup efforts failed those found or suspected of being members of Partai Komunis Indonesia (the defunct Indonesian Communist Party) were punished. Many of them were killed or punished without trial.

There was bloodshed in both the 1948 and 1965 political riots in the country.

Sukarno's successor then Lt. Gen. Soeharto emerged as a new leader, who branded Sukarno a communist. Soeharto declared his New Order administration to erase what he called the Old Order regime.

All Sukarno's books were banned and the regime's philosophy known as Sukarnoism was also prohibited.

History books were rewritten and controlled by Soeharto's administration. Several former military generals who had the opportunity to sit in the cabinet turned into historians and had a hand in the material in history text books for school children. While any book that told a different version of history, including those written by foreign writers, were banned.

Manai Sophiaan, a former diplomat, published a book, Kehormatan Bagi Yang Berhak: Bung Karno Tidak Terlibat G-30S PKI (Respect for Those who are Deserving: Bung Karno Was Not Involved in the 1965 Communist Coup) in defense of President Sukarno. His efforts have, however, resonated less than he expected.

Many political figures had been effectively ostracized and sent to prison for opposing Soeharto's political vision. The current president Megawati Soekarnoputri, too, was a victim of Soeharto's political ambitions.

The Indonesian political map changed drastically in May 1989 when President Soeharto was unexpectedly ousted.

Since then scholars, politicians and observers have proposed that history be rewritten -- a task that would be very costly and time consuming.

The transfer of power from third president B.J. Habibie to Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was fortunately the "most peaceful".

However Gus Dur was "impeached" by the House of Representatives (DPR) obviously for his excessive daring in "controlling" the Army rather than corruption charges that could not be proven legally.

Until Megawati took power the plan to rewrite history had come to a standstill and debates on history (especially the 1965 coup) remain. Many also want to see Soeharto tried.

Like the fall of Sukarno, Soeharto's ouster was also spiced with chaos and colored with blood. Several students had been shot dead during street demonstrations. Unfortunately, the legal probe into the fatal shooting was terminated due to unknown reasons.

The fall of Communist regime in 1989 in Poland was without bloodshed. The Communist regime lost in a democratic election won by Lech Walesa, who took the helm from 1990 to 1995.

The political transformation was declared when Aleksander Kwasniewski got his first presidential seat in 1995. He won his second term of office which will end in 2005.

If we used Polish spectacles we would see that the way Indonesians treated former PKI members was somewhat harsh and unacceptable. No one knows if the bloodshed that has colored Indonesian political change is a question of politics, humanism or civilization.

"Everybody was committed to build the nation," said Zaleski when asked how people in Poland were able to accept the political forces after the fall of the communist regime. His statement was not mere rhetoric as most of the people agreed that their country join the EU, something of great significance for the future existence of the country, which joined NATO in 1999.

For Indonesia, commitment to rebuild the nation among politicians is obviously low. Brawls among political parties' supporters have become commonplace in the country with "Belief in One God Almighty" as the first tenet of its state ideology.

Political violence has haunted people's daily life -- even street demonstrations conducted by a political party's supporters could lead to bloodshed.

The fall of Soeharto became known as the start of the reform era in Indonesia, while the fall of the communist regime in Poland was recognized as the start of Polish transformation. There is a similarity between the Indonesian reform movement and Polish transformation: The building of a future.

Unfortunately, as most Indonesian leaders have occupied themselves in pursuing their own interests, instead of doing something real together to build the nation, Indonesians will be left behind by Poland in rebuilding the nation.

An old question that may still be relevant is why Indonesians have not taken Nelson Mandela's concept of reconciliation toward the Apartheid regime to settle all political problems resulting from the previous regimes.

Now that diplomatic relations with Poland have grown stronger it is not late to learn from the Polish how to handle political change smoothly.

Judging from this brief example, we have to regretfully admit that the Polish may have shown higher integrity in building their nation than the Indonesians and they have a higher sense of crisis and peace.

Let's contemplate on the last verse of a poem by Polish poet Adam Zagajewski: Write about love, about long evenings, about the morning, about the trees, about the infinite patience of light.