Erratic Amien
Erratic Amien
From Neraca
I formerly admired Amien Rais for what I thought was his consistency in fighting corruption, collusion and nepotism. Unfortunately, my admiration has dimmed with each passing day.
The outstanding Amien has now become the fussy Amien. When asked whether the upcoming general session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) would be turned into a venue where the president would be impeached, he said that it was likely that the general session would become an expanded general session. As a layman, I can only conclude that the general session will indeed be the site for the President to be put "on trial".
Amien also made a statement in the same vein when he addressed an anticommunist rally in Surakarta. He said that if the President insisted on proposing the revocation of Decree No. 25/MPRS/1966 he would not hesitate to pound his gavel.
There would be nothing strange if he resorted to the action in his capacity as MPR speaker. However, it would be a different thing if it was only related to the president's proposal. In other words, Amien seems to be saying that he is ready to confront the President head-on should he insist on proposing the revocation of the MPRS decree on the banning of communism.
He said recently that the general session of the MPR would only be made a venue to assess the performance of the government, which he said would be analogous to a teacher assessing his pupil.
The series of events has left me to conclude that Amien is an inconsistent person. He may "rebel" against the status quo but he is not mature enough to be a "winner".
I am saddened that once he became MPR speaker he no longer showed his skills as a former general chairman of Muhammadiyah or as an intellectual. With his inconsistency, Amien seems to be overly absorbed in political games. In this case, we have to raise our hats to KH Abdurrahman Wahid because as a president he has not thrown away part of himself as a cultural figure.
Therefore, I would like to suggest to Amien Rais to be more careful with his world. I still have hopes that he will become a great man in the future. Amien should be aware that to be part of the opposition does not mean attacking randomly, as he is doing now. Amien must learn from Akbar Tanjung, who does not talk much but has been able to give a more effective push to the government.
FATAHILLAH
Tangerang, West Java