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.