Fabiola Desy Unidjaja

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Like her father, the founding president Sukarno, President
Megawati Soekarnoputri is obsessed with security and tends to
disregard the bigger picture of the country.

She seems to think that once the security problems are solved,
things will take care of themselves. This explains why she has
been adament in ensuring security in the country since she was
president in 2001.

Her real achievement this year has been the fight against
terrorism and the cracking down on Muslim militants without major
resistance from the majority Muslim in the country.

Another achievement is the implementation of martial law in
the war-torn province of Aceh to end the independence struggle of
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that goes on without major foul out
as concern about possible human rights violation is high.

Sectarian clashes in several areas gradually died down
following the revocation of civil emergency status in North
Maluku and very soon in Maluku province.

Despite continuing sporadic riots, the situation in Poso,
Central Sulawesi has also been improving, at least there is a
common local perception not to be provoked by the series of new
attacks by unidentified armed men.

These achievements put the country in a better standing, which
in turn helps restore the macro-economic condition in the
country, wrecked since the 1997 economic crisis.

The exchange rate of rupiah against U.S. dollar remains stable
at around Rp 8,500 and economic growth has climbed to 3.8 percent
with inflation dropping to 4.08 percent from around 11 percent
last year.

Citing the improvement in the economic index, Megawati makes
her point to security restoration as the best choice to emerge
the country from the prolonged crisis.

However, since efforts to maintain political stability stand
out at the expense of attempts to improve people's welfare and
political participation in the country, people remain critical of
Megawati's administration.

The macro-economic improvement is not followed by the micro-
economic revival as the unemployment rate remains high and the
people's purchasing power remains low.

"It is true that the macro-economic condition has improved
under Megawati, but look at the micro-economic condition, people
are still hungry," urban poor activist Wardah Hafidz once said.

Besides, under the name of stability, Megawati's
administration has sparked more anxiety among people with a
series of "disciplinary actions" by trying several activists for
staging rallies against the government and journalists for their
critical reports, which were considered as an insult.

Under Megawati, corruption remains rampant, prompting the
World Bank to remind her administration to be more prudent in
fighting the crime.

Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Teten Masduki
said recently that corruption had worsened during Megawati's 30-
month-old tenure.

International Transparency said that despite the reform
movement and its democratic leader, Indonesia had emerged as the
second most corrupt country in the world after Nigeria.

The year 2003 saw two cases of alleged nepotism and collusion
involving the first family. The first was purchase of four
Russian-made Sukhoi warplanes worth US$197 million that involved
Megawati's son-in-law Hapsoro and the second the Kemayoran
construction project worth Rp 1.3 trillion (US$153 million) that
was granted to her eldest son Mohammad Rizky Pratama.

Law enforcement throughout the year gave Megawati a red mark
as convicted corruptors and human rights abusers were able to
roam free, even contest the presidency.

Instead of building people's awareness of maintaining unity of
the nation by providing them with better welfare, sense of
justice and equal treatment, Megawati appeared to resort to
repression to make people stay together.

"Megawati has compromised the reform movement and betrayed her
constituents for the sake of stability," Sophan Sophiaan, who
used to be one of her staunch supporters, said.

Little does she realize that she does not have the influence
and capability of controlling things in the country as Soeharto
use to do.

Surveys by many institutions, including from her own the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), show
that her popularity is steadily declining.

In 2004, the country will hold its first ever direct
presidential election and the apparent candidacy of former
president Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti
Rukmana may either positively or negatively affect Megawati's bid
to stay in power.

Some worry that Tutut will help the old forces to regain
ground and this could be exploited by Megawati to win back
people's support and restore her image.

Should Megawati remains ignorant of the plights of the common
people, Tutut would have a justification that the old days are
worth revived.

Sidebar story

Megawati supervises, not leads the administration

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Perhaps the main problem facing President Megawati Soekarnoputri
in administering the crisis-plagued country is the fact that she
lacks the political support to take the lead of the cabinet,
which has reduced her power to just supervisory job.

In the absence of a strong leader, the cabinet will not be
able to work as a team as each minister will only care about
their own interests.

Former president Soeharto was known for his divide and rule
style in leading his cabinet as by design he did not let any of
them work together but compete each other to support Soeharto.

Unlike Soeharto, Megawati leads a cabinet whose members come
from parties who fought each other in the 1999 election and have
a lot of opportunities to maintain the interests of their own
parties because there is no regulation that requires them to
resign as party executives.

There have been many indications that under Megawati the
ministers compete with each other to achieve their own goals.

Exchange of words between Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan
Wirayuda and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa
Wea on the country's migrant workers had delayed the negotiation
with Malaysia on the settlement of undocumented migrant workers
from Indonesia in the neighboring country.

Conflict of interests between State Minister of Environment
Nabiel Makarim and Minister of Regional Infrastructure and
Resettlement Soenarno had left the controversy over a road
construction project in protected forest called Ladia Galaska in
Aceh unsettled.

There were reports of squabbling between Vice President Hamzah
Haz and Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on terrorism issue, which puzzled the
international community on the country's stance in the war on
terrorism.

Relation between State Minister of National Planning Kwik Kian
Gie and State Minister of State-owned Enterprises Laksamana
Sukardi has been cold following their dispute over the release
and discharge decision granted to bad debtors.

What was Megawati's stand when those frictions happens?

Nobody knows. Sources inside the presidential palace said that
she used to stay quiet and let the ministers solve their
problems.