Hope amid concerns
Hope amid concerns
As the year draws to a close, Indonesians are looking toward
the new year -- and a dawning new millennium -- with justifiable
hope. True, a host of problems and uncertainties remain to
becloud the new vista of civic liberties that has emerged from
under the debris of the collapsed authoritarian and corruption-
ridden New Order regime of president Soeharto and its brief
extension under president B.J. Habibie.
Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that much has been achieved
during that span. In the year that is about to elapse,
Indonesians passed a major milestone in their 54 years of
independence by holding their first truly free general election
in more than half a century.
As a result, Indonesia now has its first-ever democratically
elected President and Vice President leading a government that is
committed not only to furthering the cause of democracy, but to
eradicating, or at least to laying the groundwork for eradicating
once and for all, the country's tangled and expansive web of
bureaucratic corruption, collusion and nepotism.
As they slowly and falteringly proceed on this new and
unfamiliar road, Indonesians are learning that the proper
practice of democracy is something that has to be learned. On the
one hand, President Abdurrahman's widely published and much
resented remark about the national legislature, the House of
Representatives, resembling a "kindergarten" exemplifies his
government's dissatisfaction over the quality of debates in the
House.
Legislators, on the other hand, have on occasion aired their
dissatisfaction over the government's performance, which many
consider to be moving too slowly and too hesitantly in bringing
about the democratic reform demanded by the people. But given the
fact that President Abdurrahman Wahid has been in power just a
little more than two months, not even the most relentless critic
can reasonably deny that much progress has been made in the past
year.
Unlike previous governments, President Abdurrahman Wahid's
Cabinet has so far never been known to disregard criticism,
either from the public or from members of the House. Members of
the House, for their part, no longer hesitate to take the
initiative in discussing matters of public import. Steps are
being taken to revamp the judiciary and make it independent from
the executive. In short, real efforts are being made to implement
the principle of trias politica -- the separation of powers -- in
Indonesia.
Achievements aside, the undisputable fact remains that
Indonesia continues to struggle under problems that appear almost
too big for any government to handle. On the economic front, the
government is moving to bring order to the financial ruin left by
the corrupt New Order regime. Obviously, given the extent of the
devastation, it is a painful effort that will take years -- some
say, decades -- to accomplish.
On the social and political fronts the problems are no less
daunting. Injustices -- physical, social and economic -- have fed
the secessionist sentiments of large sections of the population
in several areas, such as Aceh and Irian Jaya, and to a lesser
extent in Riau, East Kalimantan and elsewhere. Sectarian violence
is disrupting life in several regions, notably Maluku, though on
occasion similar cases of unrest flare elsewhere in this country,
even in areas close to the capital, Jakarta.
Little wonder, perhaps, that speculation has been rife lately
of a possible return, by whatever means, of the old authoritarian
system, which at least on the surface seemed to work in the past.
It would be pathetic, of course, if current problems and
pressures led Indonesians to so easily forget the lessons of the
recent past. It may be true that democracy can be clumsy in
operation. Still, it is the only system by which fatal mistakes
can be avoided by the public exercising control over
policymakers.
This being the case, the only appropriate stand for
Indonesians to take under the circumstances is to exercise some
patience while remaining firmly committed to the ideal of true
democratic reform.