Hatta: A quiet thinker with bright ideas

Hatta: A quiet thinker with bright ideas

By T. Sima Gunawan

JAKARTA (JP): There was a contrast between Indonesia's two
founding fathers, president Sukarno and vice president Mohammad
Hatta. Sukarno was a remarkable orator who could keep the
audience in a trance with his compelling and passionate speeches.
Hatta, though, was a quiet person who talked more through his
eyes.

"Father did not talk much. He was a thinker," Hatta's second
daughter, Gemala Hatta, said Tuesday at a gathering in
remembrance of her father, who died on March 14, 1980 at the age
of 78.

As a father, Hatta never forced his children to do anything.
He saved his breath and just did what he wanted his children to
do, setting the example instead of giving instructions.

"That was what I liked best in father," Gemala, a medical
record administrator, said.

Sukarno and Hatta seemed to be inseparable as they worked
shoulder to shoulder to face the Dutch colonial government and
build the nation. Dwitunggal, or two in one, was the word people
used to describe how good the team was. Sukarno and Hatta were
the ones who signed the proclamation text of Indonesian
independence, which was read out loudly by Sukarno on Aug. 17,
1945.

Hatta was strongly disciplined, one who was consistent with
his principles of life and never stepped out of the line.

He is one of the few Indonesians to resign from a top
administration position -- a courageous thing which is unlikely
to occur in Indonesia's political arena today.

In his 1956 letter of resignation, Hatta said it was time he
quit because the House of Representatives and the Constituency
had been set up. This, however, was not the real reason for his
resignation.

Political analyst Deliar Noer, the author of Mohammad Hatta's
political biography, said Hatta decided to quit because the
position of vice president didn't give him the authority to curb
irregularities in government, such as rife corruption. Hatta was
upset because he did not have the power to challenge the
disorder.

The anguish was added to by Hatta's aversion to Sukarno's
private life: his polygamy.

Apart from that, he also disagreed with some of Sukarno's
ideas, such as the dismissal of some high-level officials which
was carried out without consulting him.

Hatta was not a "'yes man" following wherever the leader went.
A man with firm principles, he preferred to give up his position
in the government rather than betraying his own faith.

"I know that many people felt sorry about the resignation.
But, my father was not a person who was crazy about positions. He
gave his opinions but they (Sukarno and his other aides) would
not listen. He therefore preferred to be a layman," Gemala
explained.

Commenting on the resignation, Sukarno's eldest son Guntur
Sukarno said that Hatta's decision reflected his wisdom as a
leader.

"How can an airplane land safely in an emergency if the pilot
and the copilot as well as the passengers argue about where to
land?" Guntur asked.

"It would be better if the plane didn't have a copilot and the
passengers fasten their seat belts," he concluded.

He did not meet Hatta very often, but as Guntur grew up and
learned of Hatta's ideas, he felt close to him.

"Basically, the essence of his ideas and philosophy did not
differ much (from Sukarno's)," he said.

Guntur said he admired Hatta because he was not only a
political and economics thinker, but also a wise statesman.

Despite his resignation, the two families maintained good
relations. Guntur and his wife were among dozens of guests of
Tuesday's gathering in memory of Hatta, which was held at Rahmi
Hatta's house.

A religious ritual was performed at the beginning of the
gathering, while later in the evening a documentary film produced
by Hatta's foster son, Des Alwi, was shown.

Islam influenced Hatta strongly. He was raised in a devout
Moslem family and educated in the Netherlands. Even though Islam
is the majority religion in Indonesia, Hatta fully respected
other religions. He took the initiative to shorten the first
principle of the state ideology Pancasila when some Christians
objected to it, according to Deliar Noor.

Pancasila, introduced by Sukarno on June 1, 1945, has five
principles: Believe in God, Humanity, Unity, Democracy and Social
Justice.

The original wording of the first principle was: "Believe in
God with the obligation to the Moslem congregation to perform
Islamic worship."

A brilliant scholar, Hatta introduced many ideas for the
betterment of Indonesians, like the establishment of
cooperatives. Hatta believed this would not only improve the
economic life of villagers and avoid capitalism, but also speed
up the process of democracy.

Hatta was later given the title Indonesia's Father of
Cooperatives.

Not all of his ideas, however, could be realized. Deliar Noor
said that Hatta had underlined the need to abolish the right of
political parties' executive board to recall members in the House
of Representatives. He said such a right was only suitable for
communist and fascist states. Fifteen years after his death,
there has been no change.

"It's tragic Hatta was not able to implement his good ideas.
But father had given all he could give," Gemala said.

"Father served the country and its people as he considered it
God's word," she added.

Even in his golden days, Hatta was never an ivory tower. He
was down-to-earth who was very close to the people, related his
eldest daughter Meutia Hatta.

"When we were very young, my father always took us for a walk
in tea plantations on the mountain. He made me close to (common)
people and I think that is why I did not have any problem at all
being a (social) researcher," Meutia said.

She always remembers with pride her father's honesty.

"Father was really honest. What he said is what he did," she
explained.

Hatta was more than honest. "He was a very civilized person,"
recalled his youngest daughter Halida Jusuf-Hatta, a social
research officer at the public affairs department of a foreign
oil firm.

"He was a man who had control of himself. When he was angry,
he never yelled," Halida said, adding that his father was very
patient and not prejudice in any way.

Hatta, who was very careful in his choice of words, both
spoken an written, and mastered Dutch, French, Germany, English
and Latin.

"Father learned French when he was in the fifth grade of
elementary school. It was the foreign language he spoke first
when he was in Europe," said Halida.

Hatta spoke French when his ship stopped in Marseille on the
way to the Netherlands, where he pursued his education.

In his leisure time, Hatta listened to classical music and
read good books. Mozart was his favorite. He told jokes
sometimes.

"Even though father was quite, he was not a cold man. He was
warm and he had a good sense of humor," Halida said.