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.