Indonesians need to learn how to use power wisely

Indonesians need to learn how to use power wisely

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): On Oct. 2, 1999 the newly established House of
Representatives elected its speaker and four deputy speakers.
Akbar Tandjung was sworn in as speaker, while Sutardjo
Suryoguritno, Tosari Wijaya, Muhaimin Iskandar and A.M. Fatwa
were inducted as deputy speakers.

In his parting speech the former provisional chairman and
oldest member of the House, Bapak Abdul Majid, more or less said:
"This new legislature is different from the previous ones during
the New Order era. Ours is the product of the people's choice
expressed through a free election. Unlike the former institutions
of the past 32 years, this is not a rubber-stamp legislature."

He went on to say that the House was "very powerful"; all
decisions "can and must be made without consent or approval from
the executive. All decisions must be made solely for public
interest."

According to the 1945 Constitution, he said the House could
initiate steps that eventually led to the dismissal of a
president, but the president could not dissolve the House.

Given such power, he said, referring to the speaker and his
deputies, "Use this power wisely!"

It was a very moving speech with much political weight, being
delivered by a senior politician with rich experience dating back
to the Dutch colonial era.

At the time I did not realize that his words were actually
advice for the entire nation, extending far beyond the new House
members.

Amid the solemn atmosphere of the ceremony I forgot that our
budding democracy was still under threat from politicians who had
masterminded the "bulldozer" nature of the preceding political
events. After this speech, I thought, we would all be using our
heads and our hearts more responsibly in political deliberations.

In retrospect such thoughts were very naive. Carried away by
the nation's euphoria, Lord Acton's quote of "Power tends to
corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" was forgotten.

In a short time friends and acquaintances, who were
idealists in the recent past, willing to suffer and sacrifice for
their idealism, changed into new authorities abusing their power.
Witnessing this I felt depressed, sad and demoralized.

These people may have more faith in William Hazlitt (1778-
1830) who once said that "Power is pleasure, and pleasure
sweetens pain."

Thus although such people know that power can easily corrupt
our minds, after tasting the sweetness of power they
instantaneously become true believers of the maxim that it is
very pleasant to wield power and that "absolute power is
absolutely delightful". Which brings to mind another saying: "A
friend in power is a friend lost."

There are signs which strongly suggest that the inability to
use power wisely and responsibly is a shortcoming shared by
leaders from all political groups operating at all levels within
our political system.

It is not only political leaders at the national level who are
plagued by this cultural disease. Many political leaders at the
provincial and district levels exhibit the same symptoms.

This is a bitter reality that must be faced honestly and
courageously, and which is useless and self-defeating to deny or
conceal.

How can we emerge from this political and cultural crisis? How
can we revive the notion of "political decency" -- politieke
fatsoen as we used to say -- among our present generation of
politicians?

Good political conduct characterized by wise and responsible
exercising of power depends on two things: the quality of the
political and social systems and the quality of the politicians.

Good political systems allow, and encourage even, differing
political groups and prod them to check one another. In this
system, whoever happens to be in power will be closely watched
and systematically checked by those outside.

On the other hand, in a bad political system, the rise of
political groups which follow political visions different from
the one adopted by the ruling group is systematically suppressed
and dwarfed.

Presently, our political system lacks the capability to
control the behavior of our ruling politicians. And most, if not
all, of our ruling politicians lack the personal wisdom that
enables them to exercise self-restraint in exercising power.

Efforts to remedy our political system and to prod and force
our politicians to learn to acquire wisdom should start at once.
This is the only way to end the political and cultural crises.

A political system willing to accept the notion that being the
opposition is not dishonorable will be able to effectively
control those in power.

But in a system in which decisions to become an opposition
force is looked upon as disloyalty, subversion and even betrayal,
the social capacity to control, restrain and dismiss a ruling
group will never materialize.

It is true that the opposition role is reserved for the
"loser". But it is often forgotten that losing a political
election does not imply eternal rejection by the electorate.

It means that the losing party lacks the ability to win the
hearts and trust of the people. A good loser will ask itself why
-- and it this kind of political vision that must be encouraged.

This vision will make the current practice of coopting all
political parties into the government look myopic, infantile and
cowardly.

The second thing to be learned is to be more "choosy" in
screening and selecting political leaders. Each and every
politician coveting leadership positions in society and
government should be selected and scrutinized. We should look for
signs of personal wisdom in every person aspiring after
leadership.

But what is wisdom anyway?

A brief review of definitions of "wisdom" from five languages
-- Javanese, Indonesian, Dutch, English and French -- gives the
general picture that a "wise person" exhibits seven
characteristics: he or she is learned, or has a broad repertoire
of knowledge; intelligent; has strong common sense; has deep
insight; is discrete or prudent; has comprehensive understanding
on norms of truth; and is rich in experience.

Now is this the image of a living human being or one of an
angel?

Certainly only a few people would meet these standards, but
then leadership positions in any organization or society are
always limited. This limited space should be filled by people who
really deserve to be there, while "social trash" should be left
out.

Only in this way will we ever have leaders who genuinely
intend to use their power wisely and responsibly, and are indeed
capable of doing so.

It may be the historic mission of the next generation of
politicians and political leaders to create a political system
that can accommodate a healthy opposition and to prod aspiring
leaders to do their best to be wise.

The writer is an observer of social and political affairs.