Lessons on the public memory for Habibie

By Hidayat Jati

JAKARTA (JP): While the political costs of the Bank Bali scandal and the East Timor fiasco continue to build, it is clear that President B.J. Habibie's government has ceased to function as a proactive force, being forced completely into the defensive.

In other words, it is resisting its fall. It is also equally clear that this defensive posture is becoming increasingly desperate by the day. The effort to stay in power is pathetic and, in the long run, doomed to fail. Habibie and his colleagues, including those in the military headquarters, are clearly underestimating the power of public memory.

Despots should know, as author and observer of fallen dictators Ryszard Kapuscinski warned, that "the memory is a private possession to which no authority has access".

The administration's defensive efforts are visible in its nakedly ad hoc maneuvering to discredit whoever is perceived to be an enemy. One such instance of this was seen with fallen businessman Rudy Ramli. Rudy Ramli -- who, like the rest of us, is no saint -- whose testimony confirmed the public's suspicion of rampant corruption in the administration, was described by Habibie supporter A. Arnold Baramuli as a "drug addict". Does anybody really believe Baramuli?

Another instance of desperate maneuvering, which achieved a greater degree of success because a portion of the public has embraced nationalistic jingoism, is the effort to paint the independence camp's victory in the self-determination ballot in East Timor as the result of rigging. True, this view has not been publicly aired by government or military officials, but in private this kind of talk is quite common. This accusation is an act of desperation, and the charge is not backed by a clear and careful examination of the facts, demonstrating a diminishing capacity for reason on the part of the administration.

History has many instances of desperate acts committed by desperate despots. These efforts are usually crude, stupid and often brutal in nature. Ultimately, they all fail. Habibie should look no further for an examples than his predecessor Soeharto.

Look at how Soeharto and his subordinates attempted to discredit and destroy Megawati Soekarnoputri. They orchestrated an internal coup in her political party which culminated in a brutal takeover of her party headquarters in 1996. Then ministers tried to make the Indonesian public forget Megawati's last name, that of her father, founding president Sukarno, who, ironically, ruled the country despotically in the last days of his reign, and insisted the media to refer to her as Megawati Taufik Kiemas. This was clearly an effort to erase her from the public's memory. Yet, the more the authorities tried to undermine her, the greater her image grew in the public's memory. This is a paradox that no cruel government can ever understand. Writer Milan Kundera puts it best: "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Now Habibie's cronies and subordinates are trying their best to limit -- and therefore corrupt -- our memories regarding the Bank Bali case. The National Police have already stated their reservations about using audit results from foreign auditors as the basis for their investigation into the case. The chairman of our highest auditing authority has also shown his reluctance to maintain his professionalism.

Not long ago during a seminar held by University of Indonesia alumni, a female Golkar politician loyal to the President tried to spin the Bank Bali scandal into a matter of Chinese versus pribumi (native), and eastern Indonesia versus western Indonesia. Now there are rumors that most of the legislators in the House commission investigating the case are prepared to limit the political damage of the Bank Bali scandal, leaving the President virtually unharmed. These people should know that the public memory has already been formed. This will not diminish even if, through whatever means, President Habibie is reelected.

Regarding East Timor, there are signs that the Indonesian public has formed quite a selective memory. Attention seems to be focusing on the self-righteous behavior of certain foreign nations, all former supporters of our less-than-holy integration of East Timor. The Indonesian public's memory seems to suppress, temporarily perhaps, the rights of the East Timorese and the brutality that had been taking place in that territory. This is indeed disturbing.

Ultimately, however, East Timor belongs to the memory of the East Timorese. Our noble legislature may vote to annul the referendum and our nationalist politicians may continue to paint proindependence supporters as foolish followers of Fretilin rhetoric, but their memory will defeat all this.

It is clear that despite the injection of money, the development of infrastructure and the rumors of the philandering of Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta, the collective memory of the East Timorese did not suppress their desire for independence nor did it forget the atrocities which have taken place there since it was integrated into Indonesia. This memory will live on, as will the Indonesian public's memory of Habibie and Soeharto.

Habibie is fighting a war that cannot be won, for he is fighting our collective memory. He will, and should, fall. But he still has a choice on how he will go.

Those who believe in defending East Timor's integration at whatever cost should also take note. They too are fighting an unwinnable war. Habibie and all others who are on thin ice should read an instruction manual on figure skating cited by Ryzard Kapuscinski: "... Trying desperately to avoid a fall often causes a painful spill at the last moment, when there is no chance to prepare for it."

The writer is a business consultant with a private firm. He studied history in college.