Are we moving further away from the nation's noble ideas?
Are we moving further away from the nation's noble ideas?
By Kastorius Sinaga
Several impressive public figures met recently to sign what is
now known as the Statement of Concerns on our current political
climate. Sociologist Kastorius Sinaga writes that the statement
serves two purposes.
JAKARTA (JP): A statement signed by several public figures
which summarized their concern on the latest political
developments has received mixed reactions.
Among the signatories of the July 1 Statement of Concerns were
Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of the 30-million strong Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama, a former chief of staff of the
Armed Forces Social and Political Affairs, Lt. Gen. (ret) Bambang
Triantoro, and a former cabinet minister, Frans Seda.
Some government officials and intellectuals have dismissed the
statement as a jealous, counter-productive move with no political
impact.
But the statement has been welcomed by young pro-democracy
activists. Hundreds have added their signatures supporting the
statement. They are even planning to submit the statement to
institutions like the House of Representatives and the Supreme
Advisory Council.
The House and the Supreme Advisory Council have not responded
to the statement, despite their functions as contributors to
government policy and advisers of the President.
How relevant are the statement's concerns to our political
conditions which have been marked recently by rising violence?
Today, real politics have seemingly been reduced to the art
and science of power management. Not surprisingly, the elite
power-brokers see politics as a skill by which they mobilize
forces to achieve their own political objectives and maintain the
status quo.
In this perspective, moral considerations are a far cry from
the prevalent Machiavellian conduct: the end justifies the means.
Political moves are now targeted at the short-term aim of
safeguarding a group of people's interests.
No wonder intervention, intimidation and violence have become
the rule of the day. In such a climate, law is compelled to serve
political interests, and the executive power is increasingly
beyond the control of other democratic institutions like the
House of Representatives and the mass media.
Such unprincipled behavior is now affecting Indonesian
politics. A series of issues reflect this, including the
constriction of mass media, the imprisonment of pro-democracy
activists, the recall of outspoken House members, the threatened
dismissal of a judge who wanted to cleanse the Supreme Court of
collusion, the interference with the Batak Protestant Church to
rid its leadership of those critical of the government and the
overthrow of the Indonesian Democratic Party's leadership.
The irony is that this all happened while a number of foreign
surveying institutions found that our bureaucracy was corrupt,
without discipline and unaware of the concept of public
accountability.
In the eyes of the public, the moral values imbued in the
Pancasila state ideology such as social justice, unity and
humanity, are moving farther and farther away from the reality of
daily life. Cynics say that the Pancasila was invented in
Indonesia but is applied in Western countries which we accuse of
being individualistic and inhuman.
It stands to reason that society, especially the younger
generation, wants to know what is happening, especially from
those in power.
"Return to the noble ideals of the nation" was the title of
the July 1 statement which has rapidly gained ground as a moral
movement. The statement reminds us of the necessity of a vision
and morality to shepherd the nation. On the other hand, it
confirms that our politics are indeed decaying, taking us further
from the nation's noble ideals.
The writer is a lecturer in social sciences in the Postgraduate
Program of the University of Indonesia.