Looking ahead

Looking ahead

While the year which we are leaving behind has without doubt
given us some satisfaction, events of past months sadly enough
make it difficult to escape the impression that violence and
issues of justice and human rights were among the happenings
which most characterized 1996. First of all three major riots
involving thousands of people and occurring within six months of
each other shook the nation, beginning with the rampage triggered
by the forceful takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party's
headquarters in Jakarta by a rival in July. This was followed by
the riots in Situbondo, East Java, and Tasikmalaya in West Java
in which lives were lost and property damaged, including houses
of worship.

As Megawati Sukarnoputri was unseated as chairperson of the
Indonesian Democratic Party by a government-supported faction led
by Soerjadi, tension between the rival factions rose and reached
boiling point on July 27, when Soerjadi's supporters stormed the
party's Jakarta headquarters which were occupied by Megawati's
supporters. The clashed escalated into mass riots which paralyzed
parts of the city and left several people dead or injured and
much property damaged.

While still dazed by the July riots, news broke that thousands
of people had gone on a rampage in Situbondo in October. The
reported cause was dissatisfaction over a prosecutor's sentence
demand for a man accused of blasphemy against Islam. Public
displeasure was somehow quick to spread and escalate into a mass
riot in which thousands of people went on a rampage, destroying
churches and property. Similar riots broke out in Tasikmalaya
only last week, reportedly as a result of police brutality of a
teacher of an Islamic boarding school in the area.

On the legal front a number of cases rose to public prominence
because of their controversial nature. In Jakarta, a much-
publicized case of alleged collusion between judges and an Indian
businessman involving a considerable amount of money tainted the
Supreme Court's image. The trials of scores of youths charge with
involvement in the July 27 riots attracted much public attention,
not only because of their political nature, but also because of a
perceived partiality on the part of the judicial authorities who
were perceived as favoring the government-backed PDI faction.
Another celebrated case involved the killing of a journalist in
Yogyakarta. Although police maintain that the killing was a case
of vengeance, many believe the man was killed as a result of his
reporting of a case of official malfeasance in the area.

These, in a nutshell, are some of the major cases that could
be regarded as representative of the problems and challenges
which the past year brought us. Obviously there have been many
others. One may be tempted to view the year ahead with pessimism.
Indeed, although most of us do not take their predictions too
seriously, most of Indonesia's paranormals seem to see little
that is bright in the coming year, which is the year of the
general election and usually a time of political tension.

We believe, however, that underneath all the flare ups a
current is running which could in the end only be beneficial to
the nation as a whole. One could call it a growing awareness
among people of their basic rights as citizens of a free and
democratic Indonesia. What is needed is the sagacity to properly
manage this tendency so that it eventually provides us with a
solid foundation as we continue on our way of progress. May the
coming year bring joy and happiness to us all.