Habibie's careless assumption
Habibie's careless assumption
This time I would like to share with you my feeling of
satisfaction that I made no slip of the pen in a number of
letters in which I said it was improper for Akbar Tandjung to be
general chairman of Golkar Party and at the same time keep his
post as state secretary. This situation could not be allowed in
order to prevent abuse of power and funds.
What was essentially an ethical matter, has now become a
political issue with Akbar Tandjung himself forced to give up his
ministerial post after pressure from the General Elections
Commission (KPU). The commission believed Tandjung must be barred
from campaigning for his party in this double capacity.
Another topic I would like to raise is the apparent slip of
the presidential tongue in the case of Pak Habibie, who was
reported to have warned the nation of the latent dangers of
communism, marhaenism and socialism to the unity of the country.
Understandably, there have been strong protests against such a
seemingly careless statement made in public by such a high
authority. One political party chief said Habibie should think
first before expressing his views. A harsh judgment indeed.
Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama Abdurrahman Wahid regretted the
failure on Habibie's part to differentiate between the three
sociopolitical movements. I for one think that everybody should
be free to believe in and follow any religion and political
ideology, including the communist ideology. Only if that ideology
transforms itself into a movement against the state should the
alarm bell be sounded. Believing in a political ideology has now
become the birth right of every citizen.
What the head of state overlooked is that marhaenism, also
called Indonesian socialism, is not violent in approach or
philosophy, unlike the communist movement, which as a rule seeks
to overthrow the existing regime. The idea of the end justifying
the means is not inherent to marhaenism or socialism. Indonesian
socialism advocates a greater role by the state through
international cooperation among intellectuals. Followers of
marhaenism are mostly landless farmers.
Surely, these are not political nuances that the head of state
did not know. It must have been a "slip of the presidential
tongue" due to pressure and an immense workload perhaps.
The statement was, as we all know, later retracted and a new
version was launched and the original amended. However, the
damage it caused in certain circles is indelible. The whole
episode took a bizarre twist when Probosutedjo, chairman of the
Marhaen group, announced he would sue Habibie for insulting his
party. Probosutedjo is the half-brother of former president
Soeharto, who is known to be the former mentor of Habibie.
Austrian composer Mozart, were he still alive, might be
delighted to learn of this tale and would compose the first act
of an opera. The second act would open with the National Mandate
Party (PAN) chairman arriving on the scene with 300 of his
lawyers. Its theme song would appropriately be called Catch me if
you can!
GANDHI SUKARDI
Jakarta