Educational background not vital to presidency

Educational background not vital to presidency

The following is the second of two articles on presidential
candidacy prepared by Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, acting head of the
Division for International and Regional Affairs at the Center for
Political and Regional Studies, the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta.

JAKARTA (JP): As a democratic leader, President B.J. Habibie
should accept that the result of the June 7 general election will
be a vote of no confidence toward him, his government and Golkar,
as also mentioned by a few of Golkar's young leaders. Until now,
Golkar has received only 10.1 percent of the votes in the capital
city of Jakarta, the place of the central government and the
center of political activities in the country. So far, Golkar has
also only received about 18 percent of the national votes. On the
other hand, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) has won 39 percent of the votes in Jakarta and about
38 percent nationally. It means that he must concede defeat and
congratulate Megawati and allow her to have the first chance of
establishing a new coalition government. Lawyer Todung Mulya
Lubis said on many occasions that Megawati must be given the
first chance to form a new government, and it is time for the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) members to have a dynamic
interpretation about the Constitution, particularly on the
election of president. According to Lubis, it is not necessary
that the president be elected through 50 percent plus one
percent, but it is possible that we have a minority government
led by Megawati if the party wins the elections with almost 40
percent of the votes.

Megawati and her party also have so many weaknesses. For
example, Megawati is seen as a non-academic leader, who rejected
people's demands that the Constitution be amended, Soeharto be
brought to trial, the Indonesian Military's (TNI) dual function
be ended and the discussion be opened regarding the form of the
Indonesian state as either a unitary or federal one. From her
educational background, Megawati has no university degree.

However, there is no article mentioned in the 1945
Constitution that the presidential candidate must have a
university degree. It is probable that Megawati would be able to
become a successful president in this second transitional period.
She is supported by people from every social, economic,
political, religious, ethnic and educational background, so that
she can become a symbol of national unity in a pluralistic
society.

As far as the party platform on the military's dual function
is concerned, PDI Perjuangan has been accused as very ambiguous.
However, if we read all the 48 political parties' platforms on
this issue, only 33 political parties show an interest. From that
number, a few political parties still support the dual function,
while most want to end it gradually, including National Mandate
Party (PAN), PDI Perjuangan and National Awakening Party (PKB).
Only one, the Democratic People's Party (PRD), stated clearly
that they want to end the military's dual function now or never.

If Megawati and PDI Perjuangan reject to end the dual
function, it will not only go against people's interests, but
also the interests of the military. The military has shown its
eagerness to change its role in Indonesian politics, from a
dominant power to being one which has an influence in politics.

To have an influence does not necessarily mean to be on the
front line, but could also mean in the back. The military only
wants to have role-sharing with the civilian government. So as
such, we can only give them the role as guardian or defender of
the state, rather than as guardian of the government.

We also have to avoid inviting the military to take sides in
politics, because once civilians invite the military to have a
say in Indonesian politics, the military will step-by-step
dominate the scene as they did from 1957 to the end of Soeharto's
reign. The involvement of the military in politics is also
against their own interest, as stated by Gen. Wiranto who said
the military would resign from everyday politics.

Until now, there have also been pressures from the political
elite and the masses to put Soeharto on trial. Muslim scholar
Nurcholish Madjid was of the opinion that Megawati's reluctance
to put him on trial was based on her personal and family
background, rather than political background.

According to Nurcholish, although students pushed Soeharto to
put Megawati's father, first president Sukarno, on trial in the
mid-1960s, Soeharto rejected the idea with the reasons that we
must respect and cover up for our elder leader. It was probable,
however, that Soeharto's refusal to put Sukarno on trial was not
only because of his respect toward him, but also because Soeharto
was afraid that Sukarno might open his mouth about what happened
during the 1965/1966 period and March 11, 1966 Letter of
Executive Order (Supersemar) given by Sukarno to Soeharto.

But what Soeharto did to Sukarno was even worse and has
haunted the Sukarno family. Sukarno was put under house detention
in Wisma Yaso, now a military museum on Jl. Gatot Subroto in
South Jakarta, and was not allowed to see people, let alone his
family.

The problem is, how will we treat Soeharto? On this subject,
we can learn from some countries experiencing transitions from
authoritarianism to democracy. In Pakistan and Rumania, for
example, presidents Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Nicolai Caecescu were
respectively hung and executed just after the fall of their
governments.

In some Latin American countries, the new civilian government
gave amnesty to those who committed crimes. There was also a pact
between old and new governments that the new one promised to
provide enough of a budget to the military to be able to perform
as the guardians of the state -- not as the guardians of the
regime.

Another example is South Korea, where former presidents and
military generals, Roh Tae-woo and Chun Do-hwan, were brought to
trial by the Kim Young-sam government, then put in jail for a
short time and released by the new Kim Dae-yung government.

Some political elite prefer we follow the Koreans' steps,
particularly if Megawati wins the presidential election. We
cannot expect too much from President Habibie to bring Soeharto
to trial because of his closeness with his former professor and
mentor. The slowness of the investigation by the Attorney
General's Office on the alleged corruption, collusion and
nepotism practices of the Soeharto family is one of many examples
how the Habibie government is reluctant to put Soeharto on trial.

It will depend on the MPR members to decide whether they will
vote for Megawati or Habibie. When choosing between the two
leaders, the members must analyze what the cost and benefits will
be regarding people's feelings, the economic recovery, the unity
of Indonesia and the future of this nation and its people.

The two presidential candidates each have their own
weaknesses, but we cannot reject a leader because she is a woman,
is not a university graduate nor an expert in technology. The
result of the general election shows the people demand a change
of government. As such, it is against their interest to maintain
a status quo government which has lost a legitimacy from the
people.