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.