Inquisitive scholar Soedjati turns 70

Inquisitive scholar Soedjati turns 70

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Johannes Baptista Soedjati Djiwandono has an inquiring mind, which probably helped him become one of the country's top political analysts.

His mind -- trained in the British education system -- is always questioning the why and wherefore of things and events.

"That's how a scholar works, always looking for answers, always questioning why this or that happens. Answers may not always come, but as a scientist, (answers) must always be thought out," Soedjati told The Jakarta Post recently.

In fact, being inquisitive has become sort of a hobby for the Yogyakarta native who turns 70 on Monday, the result being analyses and criticisms that have appeared in publications and newspapers around the world.

Soedjati -- whose views were first published in 1966 -- also admits that his writing has become a way for him to vent his own frustrations over Indonesian politics.

"I often get frustrated, angry (about the situation), but writing is my outlet. When I have something on my mind, I write about it," he said.

Soedjati said that although many people felt his writings too forthright in criticizing government policies, it was his principle to voice the truth no matter how harsh.

"I've been questioned by Bakin (State Intelligence Coordinating Board) and Bais (Strategic Intelligence Agency) about my views, but I was never afraid because what I said was truth," he asserted. "I just told them to prove me wrong and I would change my mind."

Some of Soedjati's harshest criticism has been aimed at the government ban on communism, or Marxism-Leninism, which he sees as "senseless, inconsistent, illogical, unfair, unjust and ignorant", and the sanctification of the 1945 Constitution, "making it some sort of false god".

The ninth of 13 children, Soedjati grew up in the surroundings of the Yogyakarta Palace, where his father worked as a abdi dalem (palace courtier), dedicating his skills as a dancer, composer, musician, singer and sculptor to the palace.

Soedjati's childhood was spent learning court dances, studying the gamelan and learning a bit of sculpting from his father, Thomas Sastro Djiwandono. His father had wanted Soedjati to follow in his footsteps and become a court artist, but Soedjati had bigger things in mind.

Soedjati's first big break came when he was awarded a Colombo Plan scholarship -- a long-running Commonwealth foreign aid initiative that began in 1950 to assist in the development of newly independent Asian nations -- to study to become an English teacher at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1961.

He followed this up with a degree in Russian literature and political studies from the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1965.

There he also learned about international strategy, knowledge which put him in the position of becoming the first adviser to the United Nations secretary-general for disarmament from an Asian country.

"I've always been interested in politics, and while studying English I also read books on politics. When I finally studied politics, it was no longer strange to me," he said, theorizing that his political bent was probably the result of his being active in various organizations while still young.

In 1979 Soedjati earned a master's degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in international relations, and in 1981 a doctorate from the same school. His thesis was on international communism.

Why communism? "Probably because at the time the Communist Party in Indonesia was in its golden era, so I wanted to learn what communism was all about. Not to become one, because the more I studied communism, the more I didn't believe in it."

In his writings, Soedjati often cites the importance of understanding communism, admonishing the government ban on it. "If it were true that communism was our enemy, it would be all the more important that we all knew what it was all about. Know your enemy!" he wrote in the Aug. 7, 2003, edition of the Post.

Soedjati's regular opinion pieces in the Post have their own history to tell, Soedjati said, explaining that when the Soeharto government disbanded Tempo magazine in 1994, publisher Goenawan Mohamad said that someone must be brave enough to write about the truth.

"I told him, I dare write it who dares publish it? Only The Jakarta Post," he related, adding that what was important for him was to make public his views in order to generate change.

But he is also aware that change does not come over night. "Changing how people think takes a lot of time, it could take dozens of years, generations, but somebody has to start somewhere."

Soedjati's experiences inside the Indonesian political system also validate his authority to analyze it. He was a member of the Golkar party and served in the House of Representatives between 1969 and 1971, and in the People's Congress between 1973 and 1982.

"I know its strengths and I know its weaknesses," he said of the country's political system.

What he learned was that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", which Soedjati said was true in the case of all Indonesian leaders from Sukarno to Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"At the time I believed that Golkar was the right choice, because it wasn't extreme left or right. That was the idealism; that it swerved far from that is a different story," Soedjati, who left Golkar soon after it officially became a political party, said.

As a political analyst, reading is an absolute must for Soedjati, and his favorites are biographies and autobiographies of political figures, including former political prisoners, because "from them I can learn much".

Ever methodical, he has his own ritual when selecting a book to purchase.

"I look at the author, his previous writings, when the book was published. I look at the contents and index and excerpts," Soedjati said.