Govt told flexibility best long-term security policy

JAKARTA (JP): The government must be more accommodating and receptive to people's demands according to Vedi Hadiz.

Vedi Hadiz, director of the Society for Political and Economic Studies, told a seminar on Wednesday that the government would be better off avoiding the emergence of any people's movements which can destabilize the nation once they start rolling.

Ignoring the aspirations of the people in this era of social transformation will only invoke greater disappointment, Vedi said.

"The present political system must be more flexible in accommodating people's demands," he said during a one-day seminar on "The People's Movement in Indonesia" which was jointly organized by the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals and the Republika daily.

Noted historian Onghokham, the other speaker in the discussion, gave a historical perspective of people's movements in Indonesia which date back to the national movements of the early 20th century that later grew to lead the struggle for independence from the Dutch.

In his presentation, Onghokham said history has shown that movements were initiated when governments implemented an iron fisted policy.

Vedi warned the government against imposing restrictions on people who want to air their views because it would simply add to their disappointment.

Popular movements emerge because the administration fails to accommodate their demands which leads to frustration.

"People's movement usually are organized by people who feel they have been neglected," he said, citing the workers' protests in Medan, North Sumatra, last April which turned into a full scale riot as an example.

The riot was a climax to the workers' disappointment because they feel they have been ignored for quite a long time by the authorities, he said.

The government should reconsider its stance on implementing a policy of discouraging people from being involved in politics.

Vedi said that creating such distance would stop the people from channeling their aspirations, which would have undesirable consequences. "The people will explode if they don't have a channel for their aspirations," he said.

He suggested that the movements be organized to have a social impact. (par)