Establishing a tradition of democracy

By Bramantyo Prijosusilo

YOGYAKARTA (JP): To date, not one incident of state brutality which spilled citizens' blood has been brought to justice in a manner that satisfies the people's sense of right and wrong or fairness.

This suggests that the Indonesian Military (TNI) is either reluctant or unable to reform its culture of violence which was so successful in crushing the communists three decades ago.

The same vile method of political cleansing has been the standard procedure that the people of Indonesia have come to expect from their military. The method was applied against dissents throughout the New Order and is just recently being questioned. Lately, the military has been making gestures that signify it wants to reform, but the old ways are hard to change.

The amok released by military supported militias in East Timor after the recent ballot illustrates the point. The whole East Timor debacle, from the start, was an orchestration of systematic lies Indonesians were subjected to by the West in a cold war frame of mind, working through the New Order's "development" vision.

The Indonesians' reaction to the UN intervention in Timor, as opposed to the government's, is the consequence of systematic misinformation. The anger and hurt expressed in extreme cruelty and brutality, of which the ballot's result stimulated, shows the price of manipulation.

That is why now, with the country facing many grave problems, many people are struggling to create an open and honest democratic tradition.

There are also substantiated fears that the current events in Indonesia could lead to a violent disintegration of the country. Within this context it is very important that the members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) realize that we aspire to create not only a new government, but also a tradition of democracy.

Indonesians would like to see the Assembly solve the problem of choosing a president and forming an effective coalition to govern the country through the next five years.

An interesting question to ask at this moment is, should we make it a tradition that the winner of the general election be elected president by the Assembly?

It is obvious in the maneuvers by the ambitious presidential candidates and their supporters that they do not think the figure chosen by people through the ballot must necessarily be the elected president.

Surely Megawati Soekarnoputri, the leader of the winning Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), is being hastily elbowed out of the presidential race within the MPR. The tradition of democracy that we are building is a tradition that is based on our constitutional texts and our customs of deliberation.

The requirements of the Constitution are always formally fulfilled, but a democratic spirit and common sense are often ignored. Supporters of Megawati are worried that she and her party will be pushed aside by the politicking of smaller parties that did not win the most votes in the general election.

If that happens, we can expect a new government that is only interested in its own power. It seems more likely to happen as each day of the MPR's session reveals that the elite is more interested in power sharing than in the representation of the aspirations of the public.

We can expect more lies and misinformation at the expense of the people for the continuation of the regime.

Megawati's main rival is Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB). There is a strong chance that Gus Dur will win. Megawati's gender has been made an obstacle in light of the Islamic tradition of choosing a male leader over a leader from the other sex.

This idea might dominate the minds of the Muslim majority of 700 honorable members of legislature. The addition of the perception that Megawati is feudal and slow might even let them forget that most Indonesians who voted for PDI Perjuangan in the June elections are Muslims.

They voted PDI Perjuangan with full knowledge that the party would nominate Megawati for president. Gus Dur also gave the impression that he would support Megawati. The constituents who voted for PKB were also under the impression that their candidate for president would be Megawati.

The election of a president other than Megawati is not something that will violate a law, but it will be a violation of the aspirations of the people who expressed their choice through a vote for PDI Perjuangan or PKB last June.

Gus Dur has been for a long time one of the most loved, trusted and admired personalities in the Indonesian political scene. Lately, he has been working on the fact that Amien Rais, leader of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and other groups are nominating him for president. If this continues, the world can expect Gus Dur to be Indonesia's next president.

Maybe this would be a good thing as there are many advantages that come to mind, but it could also mean that we all lose out. First, we will not start a tradition in which the winner of the most votes in an election becomes president.

Every five years this will create tension and instability between the day of the general election and the election of president by the Assembly. The time lapse in the representation of the people's aspirations makes the system vulnerable to money politics and orchestrations of violence as we have all witnessed. It would be a great favor to future generations of Indonesians if the current MPR set a democratic tradition that was more direct and less vulnerable to manipulation.

Second, we will no longer have a member of society who has the integrity and humanity to stand up to the state machine. Gus Dur, as a member of society, has the courage, power, sophistication, a healthy sense of humor, common sense and a love of truth, justice and people to challenge the state when it misbehaves. To build a tradition of democracy, the country needs more people like this.

The writer is poet/artist who lives in Yogyakarta.