Long journey to real democracy

The killing of three UN humanitarian workers in Atambua would certainly put Indonesia in an extremely difficult position. This shocking incident had made President Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, look so clumsy before world leaders during the UN Millennium Summit in New York, although he tried very hard to pretend to look strong by saying: "...the attack was designed to humiliate me on purpose, but it failed. I will receive sympathy from the world leaders..." (Trijaya, Sept. 7, 3000). To the contrary, even UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had asked the delegates to stand and observe a minute of silence. It is very humiliating but to no surprise Annan failed to mention that the incident occurred following the brutal murder of an ex-militia leader.

It is saddening that during this severe economic crisis we have been hampered continuously by serious incidents which actually could have been prevented if the political elite had reached an agreement on how to get out of this crisis. Unfortunately, those elite are only busy consolidating their positions and fighting for their narrow interests. Even Gus Dur himself, during his tight schedule in New York, had said that he hoped to be president for another 10 years (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 7, 2000). How could he say such a thing during this very difficult time. Doesn't he realize that his comments was inappropriate since it showed his insensitivity and even proved his greed for power?

This sort of greed for power was also obvious when legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Prejuangan) quit criticizing Gus Dur once he reluctantly shared his responsibilities with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri. We now can easily conclude that those criticisms have had a price -- which was power. How cheap. Indeed, everybody knows that Gus Dur and Mega are very much different in personality -- he talks a lot, while she doesn't, but still both have something in common; greed for power.

As a matter of fact, it is only natural that other more powerful countries, especially from the West, exploit our weaknesses and shortcomings during this crisis for their self- interest. But no matter how poor we are, as the fourth most populous nation, Indonesia is still regarded as a strategic international player. However, the violence in East Timor, Maluku, Aceh and Papua is not only Indonesia's failure but also that of the Asian countries, particularly ASEAN. For instance, ASEAN had failed to identify the East Timor issue as an "ASEAN problem" due to its old-fashioned and undemocratic principle of non-interference. Even in the Maluku case, ASEAN again failed to handle it effectively. One should not forget that one of ASEAN's founding fathers who had a strong influence in instituting this principle was Soeharto, a military strategist who repressed his opponents to perpetuate his power. ASEAN should abandon this principle once and for all and create a more effective method in solving the complicated problems it faces.

Once we have consolidated our fragile democracy and politicians display statesmanship, we have only a few steps more toward recovery. Once we have recovered, together with democratic Thailand and the Philippines, we can become a model of democracy for other undemocratic ASEAN countries. Once all ASEAN countries become democratic and strong, I am more than convinced this organization would have the potential to compete even with the powerful European Union. What a long and bumpy road!

R. ALPHA AMIRRACHMAN

Jakarta