Eep sees new Indonesia needs hard work

Eep sees new Indonesia needs hard work

By Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): The word "reform" was once very popular among
people, being used to mark the fall of former president Soeharto
after ruling the country for over 30 years. But now Indonesia
baru, or new Indonesia, has become the new catchphrase.

This new trend has not been missed by political observer Eep
Saefulloh Fatah.

An avid reader and a lecturer at the University of Indonesia's
School of Social and Political Sciences, Eep attributed the trend
to people's desire to reject any labels connected to the
country's past governments, particularly Soeharto's New Order.

"This term might also have emerged to satisfy the people, who
are now celebrating the new situation; it's something new,
brought in by reform, while at the same time, they're trying to
break away from the phobias established by the New Order," said
the 32-year-old deputy director of the school's political lab.

Known for his composure and sharp analysis, this youthful
looking host of the talk show Toward a New Indonesia, which is
aired by five private television stations every Tuesday at 9
p.m., said the term "new Indonesia" had not yet become popular
when his show began in August.

He said the emergence and rising popularity of the term was
helped by the degradation of the word "reform".

"When 'reform' first emerged, the word seemed virtuous, full
of meaning. But later on, mostly among ordinary people, those
from the grass roots, there was a degradation of (the meaning of)
reform," said Eep, who married Sarah Santi in 1992 when they were
both students. The couple are the parents of Kalam Mahardika
Saefulloh, who will turn five years old this December.

New Indonesia is now the preferred term to reflect the
country's present situation.

"We're still heading toward a new Indonesia. If we use
theories by noted political experts, we have just begun a real
transition process. What happened between Soeharto stepping down
and the formation of the new government under Gus Dur (President
Abdurrahman Wahid), that's the very early stage of the transition
process; the early stage of political liberalization," he
explained.

"But with many officials beginning to use the term, I'm afraid
the term will be degraded too, or simply become a cover, while
people begin not to care what really happens or become easily
satisfied with promises."

In his office at the university, Eep discussed his view of new
Indonesia with The Jakarta Post on Friday. The following are
excerpts from the interview:

Question: What is your definition of new Indonesia?

Answer: In a simplified form, building a society that is a
negation of the New Order. In detail, new Indonesia should rely
more on the community, its people, and change the social,
political and economic systems. So, the social, political and
economic systems that previously relied solely on the state and
the power holders should be transferred to the people.

In a more general and fancy definition, new Indonesia is more
democratic, just and transparent. Democracy, justice and
transparency, in my opinion, are the three main characteristics
of new Indonesia.

And the highest achievement of new Indonesia is to make our
society, our state, a state that humanizes humans. When our
rights and human values develop without barriers, that's what we
call new Indonesia.

Is society ready to take over all of these duties?

First, there won't be any drastic, fast, direct or black-and-
white changes. In my opinion, heading toward new Indonesia means
imagining two huge tasks.

The first task is to prepare new hardware that meets the
people's aspirations, not the state's aspirations. Hardware can
be set up by changing the players; the replacement of unauthentic
players with authentic players. Authentic players are those who
can condemn corruption freely because they're not corruptors.

There's also the need to transform state institutions, create
or reevaluate regulations either in their highest forms, such as
the Constitution, or more detailed ones at the local level, and
then change mechanisms, such as in electing leaders.

New Indonesia will only come true if in the coming five years
there's serious work done on our hardware with real results.

If the hardware can be ready in five years, then it will ease
the second task: to prepare the software, in this case, changing
people's way of thinking, attitudes and culture. This will take
time ....

When (former Philippine president) Corazon Aquino ruled
between 1986 and 1991, she did a great job in preparing the
hardware. A year after becoming president, she produced a new
Constitution .... Nelson Mandela of South Africa even completed
preparing (the hardware) in a shorter time, around four years.

My point is, some countries have proved they can set up the
necessary hardware in a relatively short time.

Do you think we can do this in five years?

I think in the present situation, with Abdurrahman Wahid being
elected President and Megawati Soekarnoputri elected Vice
President, it can be done faster. They, theoretically, are not
burdened with a need to preserve the past.

How long will it take to work on the software?

We can't imagine how long. But let's say, if within five years
the present government, besides surviving, can get the hardware
ready, at least 10 years more. But it needs consistency.

Is the present political situation conducive to lead us to the
new Indonesia?

Partly yes and partly no. A supporting factor is, for
instance, people want change, although their definition of change
varies. In a recent survey the lab did in cooperation with Ohio
State University in 26 provinces, it was discovered that people's
definition of a better Indonesia varied. But the majority of them
wished for better living, social and economic conditions. That's
new Indonesia in their minds.

But there are counter-productive factors. The military, for
instance, is still powerful and did not lose its political and
economic infrastructure when Soeharto fell. They have been
developing their economic infrastructure ever since the 1958
state take-over measure, which gave (the military) the legal
power to control companies being taken over. So we've had
economic players wearing uniforms since 1958. By the end of the
1980s, it had already become a conglomerate. The Army's Kartika
Eka Paksi Foundation has more than 30 companies with more
branches and offices ....

Meanwhile, our (political) parties do not have such
infrastructure. And I heard, hopefully I'm mistaken, some parties
have started to use Golkar's past practices. In (the government)
departments, a certain percentage of contracts should be rendered
to the parties. It's because they don't have the economic
infrastructure and rely on donations.

Moreover, there's also horizontal conflicts, such as religious
and ethnic conflicts, and vertical conflicts, such as between
local governments and the central government. The worst example
is in Aceh.

Another counter-productive factor is that, like it or not, a
transition period is marked by strong compromise in the political
process, which is feared could lead to a conservative government.

But in my opinion, the main obstacle, which is unseen from the
surface, is changing the people's way of thinking, their
attitudes and culture, all of which were institutionalized by the
past authoritarian governments and have been nurtured for over 40
years. People were raised to favor centralization, worship the
leader, never protest or refuse a political system that
prioritized the elite and alienated them from politics and the
government.

This way of thinking is inherited from the past. Soeharto fed
people with his logistics politics without letting people get
involved in politics .... I used to think if Soeharto had to fire
all his ministers, he might only leave two; the head of the
logistic bureau and the Army commander ....

Do you believe the present government will take us to the new
Indonesia?

So far, the new government has only worked for more than a
month so we simply can't judge them.

But I see that on the one hand, the present government, amid
the contradictions, is relatively better than previous
governments. And we can pin our hopes on them. On another hand, I
see a desperate need to build control mechanisms, both formal and
informal .... People can be informed about their rights as
citizens and urged to be active to get and defend their rights.
They might become a built-in opposition. So one day, we won't
need this watchdog or that watchdog since every one can monitor
(the government).

One more thing, there's no such thing as linear, straight
history. Those who like to give speeches about new Indonesia
should be told that it will not be easy, fast or cheap to reach
it. New Indonesia will be difficult and costly (to reach), and it
will take some time to come true.