Naked arrogance
The nation veered perilously close to chaos over the weekend as students demonstrated their anger over the killings of their peers at the hands of security officers. Many members of less privileged groups of society milled on the streets, ready to take advantage of the strained political situation to commit arson, vandalism and other criminal acts. Thankfully, the students managed to push them back.
Youths in many provincial cities joined student demonstrations which received sympathy from the public. People, including community leaders and political activists, again felt insulted by the trigger-happy attitude of the troops and callous arrogance among their leaders in handling the peaceful demonstrations.
Friday's bloodshed is a sad reminder of the killing of four students at Trisakti University in West Jakarta in May, when young people in many parts of Indonesia were at the peak of their struggle to topple Soeharto, the iron-fisted ruler of the country for 32 years.
Like other killings involving officers, a shameful shroud of darkness has been thrown over the Trisakti case, with military leaders assuming Indonesians are an oblivious, short-memoried people.
Today the people say enough is enough. They have called for the resignation of Gen. Wiranto, the defense and security minister and Armed Forces commander, the person who they hold responsible for the deaths of 12 people, including six students, during the demonstration and other violence.
The question facing the nation today is how many more lives will be lost in the blind ambition to preserve the status quo.
To the authorities, student demonstrations are a subversive activity. This points to the core of the problem; the rigid, anachronistic mentality among the power holders. There persists an abhorrent attitude in which the authorities have lost their grip on social realities.
Students are clearly disappointed by the government and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which convened a Special Session last week. The students' demand for total reform has been denied proper attention by both.
Like his mentor, the despotic Soeharto, President B.J. Habibie refused to sincerely acknowledge student aspirations. MPR members remained blissfully ignorant of the bloody struggles occurring only a few kilometers from their building. Despite their token gestures in decrees, they failed to completely absorb the students' ideas.
Like the Habibie administration, MPR members also failed to pay adequate attention to recent proposals, made by four reform- minded leaders, which were sufficiently moderate for the present difficult situation.
Habibie, who has seldom demonstrated leadership qualities since he assumed the presidency as Soeharto's handpicked successor in May, displayed a jarring detachment from the tragedy despite his profession to having monitored the situation. He did not even bother to visit the wounded in hospital or pay his condolences in person to relatives of those killed.
His lack of sensitivity was most evident on Saturday. In a TV broadcast, he said he had issued instructions to Wiranto; many people expected he would add that he had fired the commander. Instead, the President said he had ordered the military to take stern measures to crack down on unrest. Once again, students voicing their aspirations were painted as subversives.
With such an inconsiderate attitude in these troubled times, his transitional government is dragging the nation toward divisions and collapse. Hope remains, however. Habibie can rectify the situation if he is brave enough to reshuffle his Cabinet, firing Wiranto and other ministers who have demonstrated unyielding opposition to the reform movement. It will allow him to include new members who can truly put the country on the path to reform.