Megawati draws criticism over no-rally appeal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri in her year-end address discouraged the use of street democracy, boasting that the "success" shown in 2001 was a basis to begin solving problems orderly through established national institutions.

Megawati's message seemed to signal an attempt to consolidate power by channeling decision-making through a controlled process and to end the public cacophony which has highlighted democracy here over the past three years.

In the traditional presidential nationwide broadcast, Megawati urged the public not to engage in street rallies and instead have faith in existing representative institutions to resolve problems.

While underlining the dangers of what she termed "street democracy" she neglected to appraise whether the performance of the institutions in question warranted the people's faith, a faith that many observers believed did not exist.

Critics told The Jakarta Post that her appeal would be ignored by the public because it was unrealistic as long as legislative bodies remained unresponsive to people's aspirations.

Some even charged that her address portrayed an obsession with maintaining order and stability.

Political observer Fachry Ali said her statement, discouraging demonstrations, exemplified the status quo's instinctual habit of silencing the public for the sake of their own success.

"Every power holder is always obsessed with the maintenance of order and stability because only with this can they claim success in their government," said Fachry, who is executive director of the Study Institute for Business Ethics Development (LSPEU).

University of Indonesia political scientist Arbi Sanit also noted that the basic problem with her demand is that street rallies still fulfill a necessary function, by making legislators more accountable and responsive to the will of the people.

"Many legislators just use the House (of Representatives) as a school to study politics," he remarked.

Political observer Syamsuddin Haris echoed previous commentators saying that the president had little perception of how the people perceived their much-maligned representatives both in the House and the People's Consultative Assembly.

"It (the appeal) is not realistic in the current situation," he said.

"Demonstrations will always take place if representative bodies fail to represent their constituents," he added.

Instead of the cynical view Megawati has apparently taken towards street rallies, Syamsuddin argued that they were still important, because demonstrations are a strong public reminder for legislators and government officials to carry out their duties responsibly and professionally.

He charged that, more often than not, legislators are unable to rid themselves of their own vested personal or party interests, resulting in deep frustration among the people.

Street rallies have become an almost daily event since the dawn of the reform era.

However authorities have often charged that the exploitation of freedom of expression in the streets often causes extreme rallies which have undermined public order and terrorized foreign investors who see the country as a cycle of neverending protests and turmoil.

The recent anti-American rallies were among the latest to create uneasiness among Indonesia's foreign partners.

Megawati, in her address, charged that demonstrations are "almost always prone to be misused" by certain parties who wish to create chaos.

"Let us not forget that we abide by a system of democratic representation where differences in aspirations must be discussed, negotiated and agreed upon through representative institutions."

"We must not continually rely on what is called 'street democracy', even though its is every citizen's and every group's right to demonstrate," she said.

Megawati, in her speech, also warned of looming problems ahead, but said the country is heading in the right direction boasting of "early signs of success" in 2001.

"It is not too much to claim that finally we have achieved political stability...Now we can concentrate on the bigger issues and save our energy to deal with other problems," the President said.

She also expressed some concern over her government's lack of success in combating corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) which is a chronic problem in the country.

"I believe that none of us want to go down in history as KKN practitioners in the era of national reform," she said.

Underlining the top priority for the year to come, Megawati said that reviving the debt-ridden economy was paramount because so much depends on solid economic growth.