'Free' at last, Sophan starts over

'Free' at last, Sophan starts over

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The new year arrived with a jolt on the political scene.

One of the country's best known legislators from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Sophan
Sophiaan, resigned from the House of Representatives amid a blaze
of publicity.

Many said that they regretted the move, citing the fact that
Sophan was regarded not just as good movie actor (his first
profession), but also a "decent" politician with enough of a
conscience to make decisions for the sake of the country.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is the chairwoman of the
party, tried in vain to coax Sophan into reconsidering his
decision. Sophan remained firm, saying that he could no longer
deal with the current political situation.

The decision, which Sophan said stemmed from his inability to
adjust to recent political developments, prompted even more soul-
searching and questions from the public -- particularly about why
there was no longer a place for a decent man in the dirty world
of Indonesian politics.

"I feel free, I feel like I've been let loose from everything
that has been tying me down. I haven't decided what to do next,
because I just wanted to take some rest for a while before
starting over," Sophan said last week.

Sophan said that he is currently finishing 13 episodes of a
new television series, Rahasia Perkawinan (Secret of Marriage),
which is aired by SCTV on Sundays. He said that he had been
swamped with acting offers since announcing his resignation.

"Maybe I will be active again in acting -- but maybe not ... I
am not sure," he said. "Maybe you can ask me again in another six
months."

Born in Makassar, Sophan, 58, first made a name for himself
with Pengantin Remaja (Teen Bride) in 1971. He remains a
respected actor and director, and is married to actress
Widayawati, his co-star in many movies and mother of his two
children.

In 1991, he joined PDI Perjuangan and went on to became a
legislator in 1992 in his hometown of Parepare, South Sulawesi.

He helped in the development of the party, which was
considered the main opposition in the declining years of the
Soeharto regime, and was one of the first legislators to demand
that the authoritarian ruler surrender power.

Despite his late entry into the legislative arena, Sophan has
some impressive political experience. He said that he has had a
strong interest in public service from a very young age through
his father, Mannai Sophiaan, who served as the Indonesian
ambassador to the Soviet Union.

Sophan agreed that, in his political choices, he was
influenced by his father, an activist in the then-Indonesian
Nationalist Party (PNI), the party that was the predecessor to
PDI Perjuangan.

"Of course, my father influenced my choice of lifestyle, I
grew up in a nationalist family, and it affected my political
choices."

But Sophan's love of politics soured when he witnessed the
reality of what was happening in the corridors of power.

Despite the fact that his party made a remarkable
transformation -- from the oppressed opposition to the
legislative leader, with their chairwoman at the helm of the
country -- it was a case in which the more things changed, the
more they remained the same.

"This is a symbol of my political disappointment. I used to
dream that PDI Perjuangan would finally become the 'winner' in
politics -- but when it did came true, we still could do
anything."

He was appointed faction chairman of the party at the People's
Consultative Assembly, a job he didn't want, especially with the
unending infighting within his party.

"I wanted to resign from the position because I don't like to
see people fighting. In the party there are frictions among many
groups, and conflicts between the new members with the senior
ones," Sophan said.

"Some of them even dared to manipulate the written results of
the faction meetings so as to accommodate their own political
agenda, and it continued to happen during the last Assembly's
special session."

Sophan has refused to specify the exact thing that pushed him
to resign, but said that he felt ashamed at being powerless to
fight for people's interests.

"I am disappointed," he said. For example, "my fellow PDI
Perjuangan central executive board member accused me, in a
newspaper, of taking sides. Yet, during a meeting with me, he did
not confront me about my reasons of quitting."

Despite the unavoidable truth that the country is still
suffering from unethical political practices, even under the rule
of "the people's party," Sophan said that he only wanted the best
for PDI Perjuangan.

"I just hope that PDI Perjuangan will finally be a better
party," he remarked.

But, he added, it's not a case of enjoying life in the
entertainment world in lieu of politics. "I don't think so -- I
have found plenty of things that I dislike about both
professions."