'Bung' Karno and other leaders

'Bung' Karno and other leaders

From Media Indonesia

Indonesia's first president Sukarno, is still remembered
fondly by many Indonesians. Charismatic Sukarno was honored as a
national fighter and his teachings are still popular to date.

Sukarno, however, left dark pages in the history of the
country as during his presidency, he tended to act as a dictator.
He appointed himself a lifelong president and was often involved
in conflicts with other Indonesian figures like Bung Hatta, Agus
Salim, and Tengku Daud Bereuh. In the last years of his
presidency, the country underwent a turbulent economic period.
Moral decadence swept through the country. Starvation was
everywhere. The communist party was legalized. And last but not
least, war reparations and the state's assets from
nationalization of foreign firms could not be traced and have
been untraceable until now.

Indonesia's second president Soeharto, magnanimously gave up
his position as president while still in office. During his
administration, the country's economy and security were slowly
returning to normal. His five-year development plans slowly but
surely transformed Indonesia from a poor country to a member of
the developing nations. Unfortunately, Soeharto also left dark
pages in the history of the country. Economic activities were
concentrated only in a small number of companies. People's
economic power was weak. Corruption, collusion and nepotism were
rampant. The country, unavoidably, suffered a severe economy
setback. Worse still, there was no legal certainty as the law was
only rhetorical. Political opponents were silenced immediately.

B.J. Habibie was Indonesia's third president. A technocrat, he
was very intelligent. Unfortunately, as he was raised during the
New Order era and inherited this regime, people showed their
apathy toward him, leading to the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR) rejecting his accountability report. Habibie did not have
enough time to prove his administrative prowess.

Abdurrahman Wahid is Indonesia's fourth president. He is a
democrat and a leading figure of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the
largest Muslim organization. Unfortunately, he has lately been
rocked by his controversial statements. A special session of the
MPR will shortly be convened to decide his fate.

The above description indicates that every leadership style
has its pluses and minuses. The four persons referred to earlier,
the nation's great leaders, must be respected by the entire
nation. As a civilized nation, we should not suspect other people
and should, instead, forgive them for their mistakes while
leaving legal violations to the courts of law. If we are to
declare ourselves a nation with magnanimity and one that
appreciates the merits of its heroes and leaders, the
commemoration must be given not only to Sukarno, but also to
other heroes and leaders whose merits were greater than Sukarno's
but were not recorded in history.

SUHAIMI IMRAN

Jakarta