Gloom hangs over Indonesia: Intellectuals
JAKARTA (JP): The Democracy Forum, a loose discussion group chaired by controversial Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid, has dropped its plan to issue an exceedingly short political statement: "No Comment. Don't know."
A number of young supporters of the forum prepared the "statement", to be signed by its members and distributed to the press late Wednesday.
After Abdurrahman failed to show up, the forum members debated whether to issue the "statement", with some saying that it only expressed "defeat" on their part. A well-informed source at the forum told The Jakarta Post that those who wanted the statement distributed wished to express a sense of futility in commenting on current conditions.
The activists eventually agreed not to issue the statement.
The Democracy Forum holds annual meetings, coinciding with the celebration of Indonesia's independence, which are usually marked by the issuance of political statements.
A number of famous intellectuals turned up at the gathering Wednesday. Among them were philosophers F.X. Mudji Sutrisno and Franz Magnis Suseno, novelist Marianne Katoppo, social and political observers Daniel Dhakidae, Muhammad Hikam, historian Onghokham, senior journalist Goenawan Mohamad and lawyer Marsilam Simanjuntak.
The forum was established in early 1991 by 45 people with the aim of educating the nation towards a more mature political life through the process of democratization.
In more recent developments, however, the forum has often been linked with opinions which are very critical of the government. Abdurrahman Wahid and most of the intellectuals in the forum are known to be blunt in their criticism of the administration.
Goenawan and Mudji used the occasion on Wednesday to reflect on the current situation and to share their views with reporters. Both Goenawan and Mudji argued that Indonesians have a lot to be concerned about.
Goenawan, former editor of the now-banned Tempo news weekly, identified at least three issues that should be handled urgently, the first of which being "the absence of the rule of law".
The second and third matters were the prevalent "cynical attitude" and "mass paranoia", Goenawan said.
Mudji supported Goenawan's view, adding that another matter of concern was what he described as a lack of feeling of security among the people.
"Many people still don't have the feeling of being safe, of being free from terror," Mudji said. "People still feel that they are not free to express their opinion."
"The lack of this freedom of expression means that the people have to pay too great a price for the economic success that Indonesia has obtained over all this time," he said.
Goenawan said the "prevalent cynical attitude" is evident the large number of people who "treat everything as if it has a price tag attached to it".
"Whatever a person does, he's thought of as doing it to further his own interests," Goenawan said. The 50th anniversary of Indonesia's independence has seen a moral slide, he said.
He said cynicism is even more prevalent among government officials. "Every time a person voices some concern, he's seen as doing so to gain popularity. Officials are always looking for ulterior motives."
The trend, he said, has reached a dangerous stage. Unless it is stopped, the tendency of finding fault and assuming ulterior motives will "cause us to lose hope," he said.
Goenawan also lamented what he described as "mass paranoia", which he said affected every layer of society, including government officials.
"We are suspicious of everything," he said. "If three people sneeze at almost the same time in three different corners of a room, they are suspected of hatching a 'sneezing conspiracy'". (swe)