Councillors duck and dive
With the support of three major factions in Jakarta's City Council, and thus the city's legislature firmly in pocket, it appears at the moment that Governor Sutiyoso's chances of being reelected for another five-year term are fairly well assured. Besides, apart from those three large factions -- the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP) -- Sutiyoso also has the support of the minor Justice and Unity Party (PKP).
As for Golkar and PPP, and the military-dominated PKP as well, one can understand, though perhaps not applaud, their self- interest in nominating Sutiyoso, who as governor of Indonesia's capital city has shown little distinction in making Jakarta a better place to live and work, especially for the poor.
The same apologetic statement could also be made for the PDI Perjuangan, the party with the biggest representation in the council and led by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, were it not for the fact that it was the same Sutiyoso who in 1996, as military commander of Jakarta, should at the very least be held responsible for the vicious attack on the party's headquarters that left dozens of the party members and supporters either dead, injured or missing.
That event, of course, makes the PDI Perjuangan's support for Sutiyoso's candidacy one of the worst ironies in Jakarta's political history. But then, politics is politics, and to paraphrase the 19th century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, distinguished for his comments on the benefits and drawbacks of democracy: In politics many men are ruined by having too good a memory. The party's support for Sutiyoso only seems to validate Tocqueville's rather cynical remark.
However, while the legislators, chiefly those from PDI Perjuangan along with chairperson Megawati, may be willing to forgive and forget, many in Jakarta apparently are not. Tired of airing their opposition to Sutiyoso's candidacy by issuing declarations and organizing street protests without being heard, this week some 300 representatives of the public took a more mockingly humorous approach to air their rejection by presenting 11 ducks, neatly dressed up with ties around their necks, to each of the 11 factions in the City Council.
To the face of the legislators, the demonstrators, including becak pedicab drivers, street vendors and people evicted from their shacks along riverbanks and railroad tracks, complained that so far the lawmakers only "quack like ducks, making lofty promises to the poor which they never fulfill". Numerous times representatives of Jakarta's urban poor have tried to take their complaints to the legislature but they were never heard, protest leader Azas Tigor Nainggolan said.
One major point which the protesters made was that they did not feel represented by the legislators -- their representatives -- in the City Council. Of course the legislators, being elected under Indonesia's proportional system of general elections, represent the people only indirectly -- that is, through the political parties they represent. As a natural consequence, it is the immediate interest of those political parties that is first and foremost in the minds of the legislators whenever they are called upon to make policy decisions. This, plus the wide prevalence of "money politics", naturally lead to disappointment among the public which the legislators are supposed to conscientiously represent.
For that reason, many Indonesians are looking forward expectantly to the day when the people can directly elect their own leaders and representatives, both on the national and on the local levels. Until that day arrives, and until the practice of "money politics" is wiped off the stage of Indonesian politics and political morality is restored, Indonesians will have to put up with policy decisions in which they have no direct role and that are aimed more at serving the interests of the political parties involved than those of the population at large.