Haughtiness breeds contempt

Haughtiness breeds contempt

Nothing but a tsunami could have shocked me out my daily
reveries. And I am positive that the worst ever tidal wave in the
era of reform has turned millions into statues from disbelief.

What else could I mean but the incomprehensible announcement
made by the state secretary and Functional Group (Golkar)
chairman that former president Soeharto deserves a Rp 26.5
billion house for his services to the people and state during his
32-year presidency.

Had the Austrian composer Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus still been
alive he might, as a reaction to the news, start composing
another comic opera like Der Figaro. To Frans Lehar, this might
be an opportunity to launch another Die Lustige Witwe (Merry
Widow) waltz operetta.

If my senses are still intact, it was only a month ago a well-
known politician blamed the prevailing crises, the people's
suffering and all sorts of shortages and the foreign debt burden,
squarely on the New Order government under Soeharto and on the
(old) Golkar leadership. And yet, the present reform government
believes Pak Harto is in urgent need of financial assistance
while the majority of the people barely have enough to purchase
their daily needs.

Think of the millions of jobless people. Perhaps, The Jakarta
Post editorial of July 23 reflects the conscience of the majority
of people and fortunately also of some leading members of the
House of Representatives. The benevolent genie of reform has been
put back in the bottle and the evil spirit of the former
government is roaming around freely, as many have dreaded. At
least the political cards have now been thrown on the table for
everybody to see who loves who and where the true and pseudo
reformists are to be found.

How can one not get sarcastic about it; we beg foreign
institutes for loans to feed the people or pay our debts, sell
our companies, economize state rupiah spending, yet we throw away
money unnecessarily.

Now the true colors and true intentions of this reformist
government have been revealed in an unfortunate, if not very
haughty manner. To allege that the reform movement has been
derailed seems not far from the truth.

My criticism is far from politically motivated, although it
may contain political undertones. From the point of morality in
announcing the refund (for Soeharto's house) under the present
general hardship and economic malaise is simply inhuman.

As I wrote in a previous letter, even geniuses, supreme
thinkers calling themselves intellectuals, make mistakes,
misjudgements or blunders. It seems that intellectuals can also
lose their sense of crisis. And even worse, this untimely
disclosure shows their ineptness as statesmen and as a loss of
their sense of priorities. Statesmanship, wisdom and honesty --
not mere intellectualism -- and compassion are needed more now to
govern well.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta