Moral legitimacy in Indonesian politics

Moral legitimacy in Indonesian politics

Kisah Karna dan Dendam Kita: Membusuknya Moralitas Sosial Politik
Indonesia (The Karna Saga and Our Resentment: The Decaying
Indonesian Sociopolitical Life); Mohamad Sobary; Gramedia Pustaka Utama,
Jakarta, 1999; vi + 251 pp.

JAKARTA (JP): The book is an anthology of Mohamad Sobary's
opinions published in the mass media between 1992 and 1995. It
consists of 51 articles which reflect the writer's views on
realities from that period. The topics range from political
affairs, leadership, religiosity, social issues and culture.

With the 51 articles, the writer discusses three major issues
using politics as the core: the essence of politics, principles
of good governance and the sins of the New Order government.

On the essence of politics, the Kompas columnist says that
politics does not justify any means to achieve the goal. In other
words, politics is not the dirty game as commonly practiced in
Indonesia. The truth is that politics is something noble. Where
does the nobility lay? The answer lays in the person that plays
the game and the goals he/she strives to achieve.

Sobary insists that politics is part of human nature. Animals
don't practice politics because they do not have the capability
to do it. He reminds us that the end goal of political games
should be people's common interest, not personal, which is the
development of human being.

The writer idealizes politics as an instrument to create a
better order so that people can live in harmony. So, despite what
people generally assume, politics does not concern power in the
first place. But rather, it deals with human life and need, with
social sensitivity and common efforts to achieve prosperity. This
is the nobility of politics.

Sobary strongly believes that political principles should be
compatible with moral principles, such as respect for human
rights, honesty, fairness, truth, integrity and social
responsibility. The quality of a politician should be measured by
the extent he/she upholds these principles.

What about the New Order? Did it honor the principles? Sobary
says that the New Order government was far from implementing the
moral principles. The Soeharto government dumped the moral
principles in the course of its 32-year authoritarian rule as is
obvious from the widespread corruption, cronyism, collusion and
the use of violence to solve national problems.

How could the New Order be engaged in such dirty politics? The
answer, according to the writer, is that the regime had a wrong
understanding about politics. It saw politics as an instrument to
grip power rather than to uphold human values as evident in the
brutal tactics it employed to suppress dissent.

What happened during the New Order government was dirty
politics like poll-rigging, oppression of political opponents,
abduction of student activists and political killings. Sobary
sees all those tactics as the New Order regime's fatal mistakes
in managing the state.

Sobary shows that the tempering of moral principles has
brought about great sufferance to Indonesians and caused the
societal order to collapse.

Too many people were imprisoned for political beliefs and many
children became orphaned because of the violence the New Order
regime employed to suppress dissents. Intellectuals were silenced
and the economic fundamentals destroyed by corruption and
monopolistic business practices.

The autocratic regime gave rise to hypocrisy. People would do
anything to please their bosses if they wanted to prosper. The
rife corrupt practices sparked public distrust against the
regime.

The writer warns that the future government should learn from
the New Order government's mistakes. Only with clean politics
will democracy flourish, justice be served and economics grow.
Public order will take shape only if the government has moral
legitimacy.

The book offers clear philosophical ideas on how to make
political life worthwhile. Although the articles were published
some years ago, the ideas are still highly relevant. (Kasdin
Sihotang)

The writer is teacher of ethics, Atma Jaya University, Jakarta.