Lessons on the public memory for Habibie

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.