Help Indonesia now
After three decades of stultifying dictatorship, Indonesians have enjoyed two weeks of remarkable political freedom, marked equally by exuberance and self-restraint. There is a sense in the world's fourth most populous nation that the future is up for grabs. For Indonesians as well as for U.S. policy towards that important country, this is a moment of peril and opportunity.
President Soeharto surprised many by bowing to popular will and resigning, without a last-ditch fight, after 32 years in office. His handpicked successor, although no reformer by history or inclination, is in his turn responding to popular demands for change. Political parties, long banned, are forming; a few political prisoners have been released; the press is criticizing freely; labor unions are emerging from underground; a vigorous debate is taking place on how best to further promote democracy.
These steps are only the beginning. Some 200 political prisoners have not been freed. Many reformers believe that elections should be held sooner than the 1999 schedule proposed by President B.J. Habibie. The new President so far has refused to discuss a change in policy towards East Timor, where the worst human rights abuses of the Soeharto era took place; no democratic government can sustain his no-negotiation stance.
And the new President, arguing that Indonesians should look to the future, not the past, has so far resisted calls to examine how Mr. Soeharto and his children amassed billions of dollars in wealth. This, too, is a position that he will not be able to sustain. The desire to avoid frenzied retribution is understandable, but if Indonesia hopes to build an economy less permeated by corruption, it will have to reveal the sins and secrets of the old system.
The greatest threat to Indonesia's transition now is economic collapse. The currency has lost most of its value, the price of food staples has soared, and millions are unemployed. Starvation among Indonesia's 200 million people is a real possibility. If the economy is not righted soon, any hope of democratization may be lost.
Herein lies America's opportunity. Sticking with Mr. Soeharto almost to the end, it played not much of a role in his downfall, and now it can best leave political debates to the Indonesians. But, without taking sides in those debates, the United States could support the democratic process by aiding fledgling civic institutions, funding scholarships for students who suddenly see their prospects for education disappearing, and, above all, giving food and medicines in sufficient quantities to avert a humanitarian disaster. A large and generous aid program now could earn crucial goodwill for the United States while giving Indonesia its best shot at finding its way toward democracy.
-- The Washington Post