Long journey to real democracy

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