Another sad year
Another sad year
As Indonesians bid the old year farewell and stand ready to
greet the new, it is more than distressing to note that the first
year of the new millennium has proved little better, if any at
all, than those preceding it.
Indeed, the spate of bombings which rocked a number of cities
on the islands of Java and Sumatra close to the year's end and
violated the sanctity of this past Christmas Eve has made the
year 2000 one of the worst in the nation's history since the
upheavals of May 1998 which brought about the downfall of the New
Order regime.
Yet, there is one thing for which Indonesians have reason to
be thankful. The bombings, clearly, were meant to disrupt the
nation by sowing seeds of hatred among Christians and non-
Christians, of whom Muslims are by far the biggest majority. What
they achieved instead, was to strengthen the bond of brotherhood
and understanding among believers of all faiths -- which must be
admitted has seemed shaky in recent years -- by making them see
how close the nation has come to total disintegration.
Their resolve, expressed jointly on the night of the bombings
by some of the nation's most influential community leaders and by
leaders from all of the country's major religions, to keep the
nation peaceful and intact, and the prompt action they have taken
to work towards that goal, may be considered among the most
encouraging developments witnessed in recent years.
But while encouraging, at the same time this development puts
the spotlight on the daunting amount of work that must yet be
done to put the Indonesian national house in order. A thorough
cleanup in the state's security and intelligence apparatus is
clearly required.
Judging by the extent of the bombings and their timing, the
Christmas Eve bombers must have planned their actions and made
preparations well in advance. Whoever they are, they must belong
to a reasonably large and well-organized group with access to
enough money to enable them to execute their plan in several
cities simultaneously. To the average Indonesian, it must seem
odd that their activities could have remained unknown to our
police and state intelligence officers.
But then, not a single incident -- from the kidnapping of
dissident political activists during the past Soeharto regime, to
the May 1998 riots, to the fatal shootings of student protesters
in the years that followed -- has been resolved satisfactorily.
Under the circumstances, Indonesians can put some hope in Vice
President Megawati's assurance, made to the press during the
week, that preserving the nation's territorial integrity and
economic recovery would remain at the top of the government's
agenda for the coming year.
People in several of the country's regions such as Maluku,
Irian Jaya, Aceh and in parts of Kalimantan have suffered for too
long already, and many of them may even have lost the hope that
an end to their suffering is in sight. Aside from the continuing
violence and the killings, thousands of refugees continue to live
in appalling conditions in camps across the country.
All in all, it is high time for the government to act with
firmness and resolution to improve the nation's conditions while
President Abdurrahman Wahid can still count on enough support in
and outside the national legislatures, the House of
Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly. Let us
therefore make it our year-end resolution to stop the violence
and end the bickering among political factions, and concentrate
our efforts on improving the whole of the nation. Indonesians
everywhere are asking for no more than that, and deserve no less.