Democracy has died in RI: Rights lawyer
Muninggar Sri Saraswati The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Indonesians must strive to become more humane in order to develop during and beyond this democratic transition period and put the repression of the former authoritarian administration firmly in the past, if it wants to become a truly democratic society, a noted human rights activist said.
In a speech at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center on Monday evening, Todung Mulya Lubis said he was quite concerned that so many Indonesians had started to lose their identity and humanity.
He cited the facts that Indonesians had become more permissive of violence, torture, war and tragic accidents that have claimed scores of lives.
Such conditions, Todung said, derived from the neglect of political powers, worsened by the tendency by certain groups of people who desire a return to a repressive regime. Malfunctioning social institutions have contributed to this trend, he said.
Todung, also a reputed lawyer, suggested that the state may have played a role in the country's failure to facilitate a proper approach in politics, which has led a number of times to state-sponsored violence.
"Political cruelty is not derived from a regime or certain actors, but from efforts towards a particular ideology to become an official ideology of a state," he said.
People, Todung said, must understand that "the raison d'etre of politics is freedom".
"Therefore, everything that threatens freedom must be eliminated from politics or should be made the enemy of politics," he said.
The meaning of politics must not be replaced by private interests, or it could incite violence, Todung warned.
"Why doesn't the freedom we have automatically solve the problems of violence? It's because politics in the real sense is not developing or has died in Indonesia," he said.
Indonesians gained a number of freedoms following the downfall of 32-year administration of the authoritarian New Order regime.
According to Todung, politics here have been mistakenly understood to be "transactions". This fallacy, he said, is the source of the deteriorating humanity and ignorance of Indonesians.
However, Todung suggested that Indonesians should be optimistic, because they had secured many freedoms.
"Evil is not the answer to fight evil. The only thing we can do to fight evil is through peaceful, humane solidarity," he said.
Todung said that many of the victims of violence in Indonesia understand the need for peaceful and humane approaches in politics.
"They have developed a continuous politics of hope through their stories, writings and speeches that makes everyone understand about the real problems and situation," he said.