Democracy and accountability

Democracy and accountability

By Afan Gaffar

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In recent weeks mounting public pressure has built up around
two top government officials,who are being urged to resign.
Political scientist Afan Gaffar argues that the public has the
right to know what their leaders are doing.
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JAKARTA (JP): There has been no economic or political issue
within the last decade greater than the Bapindo Affair. A Chinese
Indonesian businessmen by the name of Eddy Tansil, who in fact
did not have a good financial reputation, with the support of two
prominent figures, Admiral (ret) Sudomo and Prof. Sumarlin,
easily took US$ 650 million from a state bank, Bapindo, without
an adequate guarantee of its return.

Some of the money was used to finance a petro-chemical plant
in West Java and the rest was transferred into Eddy Tansil's bank
accounts, either in Hong Kong or in Jakarta.

The political implications of this scandal are clear. First of
all, everybody in Indonesia is at present talking about the
efforts necessary to establish a "clean government" so that
corruption in the bureaucracy can be reduced.

Harmoko, minister of information and chairman of Golkar, the
state-backed political body, revealed that one of the principal
platforms of Golkar is the "clean government" issue. The
Commander of the Armed Forces, Gen. Feisal Tanjung, also has
indicated clearly that he will fully support any effort to create
an honest government.

The second political implication is that the political
community in Indonesia firmly believes that collusion between
bureaucrats and members of the business community is not a myth
but a reality. Consequently, the community will be quick to point
a finger at bureaucrats and businessmen at any hint of it. The
trust in the state bureaucracy is at its lowest point ever at
this moment.

Although Sudomo has denied several times that he took any
advantage of the financial affairs between Eddy Tansil's Golden
Key Group (GKG) and Bapindo, nobody in this country will believe
him. The political and economic community firmly believes that
without the strong pressure from Sudomo -- he wrote several
letters of reference in GKG's favor and personally guaranteed
that Eddy Tanzil was a loyal and good citizen -- the chief
executive officer of Bapindo would not have had the courage to
provide such a huge amount of credit. And even though Sumarlin
did not write any letters of reference, he did make several
telephone calls to put pressure on the chief executive officer of
Bapindo, so that the latter had to provide the necessary funding.

Almost every day, members of the political community in this
country have been asking Sudomo and Sumarlin to resign. Students
have demonstrated in Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Jember and
other big cities, demanding that Sudomo resign from his present
post as chairman of the Supreme Advisory Board. Several
legislators, such as Sri Bintang Pamungkas, have demanded the
same.

The genius of democracy is that it requires political
accountability. Within this framework, the political community
has the right to ask the government to make a clear explanation
of certain policies. Why, for instance, has the government so
easily provided loans for members of certain ethnic groups as
compared to the process faced by others, and why does the
government intend to put money in a nuclear power project instead
of opting for hydro-power projects as a source of energy? People
are demanding an explanation.

Accountability involves public figures such as Sudomo and
Sumarlin. Since people put trust in their leaders to represent
their interests and to handle daily public affairs, the public
also has the right to know what their leaders do, where they go
and with whom. Within the democratic framework, prominent public
figures must be prepared and be available for public scrutiny.

As a matter of fact, this kind of scrutiny is
happening now with our government, our public figures and our
public institutions, such as the owned-state bank Bapindo, even
though some people condemn it as being part of a liberal
framework, unsuitable for our Pancasila Democracy.

It is sad to read or watch the daily news about Sudomo and
Sumarlin. Sudomo was one of the most powerful figures in the
early 1980s as the chief of staff of the Kopkamtib national
security agency. According to the late Gen. (ret) Yassin, Sudomo
once even planned to put several prominent leaders of the Petisi
50 group on Buru Island, a place that was once considered
suitable only for banished communists. Sumarlin played a dominant
role in the reconstruction of our economy. It is sad to see that
they have to end their political and bureaucratic careers in such
a way.