Neutrality, Megawati's mantle?
Neutrality, Megawati's mantle?
Surely, the very same money that undemocratically squeezed the
red-neck, George W. Bush, into the White House, must be behind
the article titled U.S. must prevent chaos in RI (The Jakarta
Post, Aug. 2, 2001) by Tom Plate. It is all too redolent of the
arms industry.
Rather than militarism, Switzerland, another nation of great
linguistic and cultural diversity, sensibly chose political
reform and the advancement of individual rights when confronted
with a brief civil war that threatened its unity in 1848. It
adopted a confederal constitution guaranteeing the rights of
citizens and providing for the cantons to maintain their autonomy
within a unitary state, governed by a democratic central
government, headed by a seven-member Federal Council instead of a
prime minister. It also reconfirmed its anti-militarism manifest
in its tiny regular army and long-standing neutrality.
Like Indonesia, the Confederation of Switzerland came into
being because of a desire to counter foreign intervention. The
Swiss, in thirteenth century Europe, feared the power of the
Hapsburg family, while Indonesia coalesced to resist the Dutch.
Unfortunately, Indonesia failed to appreciate that foreign
intervention could come in other guises and these soon resulted
in the toppling of president Sukarno, the denationalizing of
Western assets nationalized under him and the installation of the
Quisling-dictator, Soeharto, ultimately leading to the disastrous
invasion of East Timor.
Perhaps because Indonesia had to fight for its independence
and then suffer the Western-sponsored escalation of right-wing
militarism here, it is not considering solutions, other than
military ones, properly.
The Swiss, on the other hand, became very much aware that
trying to maintain by force, the unity they needed to ensure
their freedom from others, was bound to fail in the long run
because brutality and oppression, perpetrated by a central
government, are incompatible with freedom itself and that trust
and loyalty must develop in the regions if people are to
willingly remain part of a unitary state. By eschewing coercion
the Swiss have since achieved a level of stability and prosperity
that few other countries can match.
Given that Indonesia has suffered Pol Pot-like massacres and
other depredations as a result of being drawn into the Cold War,
internationally recognized neutrality could be a way of avoiding
any recurrence. With a nervous and rather capricious Australia to
the south that needs mollifying and the danger of being sucked
into America's attempts to counter the growing power of China to
the north, it is certainly an option worth serious consideration.
Perhaps, here is a chance for President Megawati to finish what
her father began.
Arms-manufacturing countries will of course, vehemently oppose
the resulting demilitarization; but let us hope that it will soon
be widely acknowledged in Indonesia (and by various foreign
investors seeking stability) that the notion that military force
can unify a nation is sheer folly.
FRANK RICHARDSON
Tangerang, Banten