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.