New Order govt brings progress despite some failings

New Order govt brings progress despite some failings

By T. Sima Gunawan and Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): Thirty years have passed since the fateful day when the New Order government replaced President Sukarno's Old Order administration. However, many find it hard to erase their painful memories of the period of transition, where the new young government was struggling to rebuild the nation from scratch.

Many had to go without rice, the staple food, bathe without soap and patch up old clothes. The Jakarta Post talked to a number of people about these difficult years and how they coped with the situation. The following are excerpts from their stories.

Soerarti A. Bratanata, 68, a retired civil servant who is still active in an education foundation:

My salary as a civil servant was very small, only about Rp 200 a month. This was only enough for a week.

I was a teaching assistant at the School of Pedagogy and Philosophy of the University of Gajah Mada in Yogyakarta. I had been teaching for four years when I moved to Jakarta and became an officer at the directorate of public education at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Because of the small salary, some of my colleagues had to look for other jobs, which could provide them with a bigger income. Others took side jobs to make ends meet.

As for me, I opened a food stall and also sold cloth.

In the first years of the New Order administration, things changed a little bit. There was no drastic change, though. There was a small rise in my salary.

Compared to 30 years ago, the present situation is clearly much, much better. Civil servants's salaries are still small. But at least they're doing alright. They have TV sets and refrigerators now.

Improving the welfare of civil servants is important, but what should be prioritized by the present government, is improving the quality of education. The education system should accommodate students' creativity and teachers also need to teach students about what is going on in this world.

We should not just work on things in textbooks and the curriculum, which might be out of date.

We are entering the era of globalization. We should bear in mind that education and teachers play a crucial role in human resource development.

PJP Sitohang, 60, lecturer at the private Krisnadwipayana University:

In the days leading up to the issuance of the Supersemar, I was the head of Internal Organization Section of the Economic Task Force of the Students United Action (KAMI). My section was responsible for the handling of social activities.

One of our tasks was to distribute cloth supplied by the military to students and citizens in Jakarta and neighboring towns. The students made jackets from the cloths.

Already married and having a baby, I had actually finished my study, but had postponed taking my final exams.

'I won't take my exams before Sukarno is removed', I told my father in law.

I told him that if the communists were still in power, my graduation would mean nothing since they would surely kill me and my family. We had heard from the military that the communists had planned systematic killings, codenamed Ampera I, II, III, IV. During the Ampera I phase, they would kill all the anti-communist adults, and then by turn, their families, including their children above nine in the last phase.

So we didn't feel secure until the communists were totally eliminated.

Because of my work, I couldn't stay with my fellow students full time. But I never lost touch with them. When I didn't have much work at the office or during breaks, I would always rush on my scooter to the PMKRI (Indonesian Catholic Students Unity) base on Jl. Sam Ratulangi, Central Jakarta, to meet them. Absenteeism at schools and offices was rampant, but understandable to anyone since there was no certainty about the political situation.

I took part in a lot of demonstrations for the Tritura, (short for: People's Three Demands, namely Cleaning the Cabinet, Dissolving the Communists Party, Improving the Economy). One unforgettable demonstration was the one in front of Bogor palace on Jan. 15, 1967, and the show-of-force the day after the issuance of the Supersemar, on March 12, 1966.

On the morning of March 12, I heard from friends that the communist party had been dissolved and that the party's chairman, Aidit, had been captured. We ran to Lapangan Banteng square and from there toured the city on armored vehicles in a spirit of joy.

Over the past 30 years, the New Order administration made a lot of improvements. Of course things are not perfect. There are some failings, including corruption, and most dangerous of all, the trend towards sectarianism among the elite. This trend, I think, may endanger our state ideology Pancasila.

I am proud to be a member of the '66 Generation who once managed to safeguard Pancasila. We had no selfish motives. It was a struggle for the country. That some people can't enjoy the fruits of this struggle is only natural because heroes don't often enjoy the fruits of their sacrifice.

Alex, 27, an economics student at a Jakarta university:

For me, as a student who was born after the event and only learned of it from books and stories from the people who witnessed it and were directly involved in it, the struggle which led to the birth of the New Order administration was only a small drama blown out of all proportion.

The '66 Generation was nothing more than an instrument used by the military to legitimize their ascent to power, that is, to pretend that it received public support. The '66 Generation was not the main driving force. Without the Army's Strategic Command (Kostrad), they would have been nothing.

The crushing of the communists was not followed by the emergence of a more democratic government. What happened was only a change in the players in the arena of power, while the rules of the games, and the arena, remained the same. Both the Old and the New Order administrations justified all means to their own benefit.

Obviously, the New Order administration has successfully developed the country's economy. But, Indonesia would possibly have made the same progress economically otherwise.

So, what is the '66 Generation so proud of? Their success in safeguarding the Pancasila ideology? What does ideology mean at present? Ideology is dead. The whole world is heading towards a zero ideology situation. The only ideology left is the market. Shanghai and Vietnam are no longer communist in economic terms.

Had the communists won, I don't even believe that they would have crushed all religions. Take the case of Russia. If religion had really been crushed during the Soviet era, there wouldn't be the multitude of believers there is now. I just don't believe that they started to go to church or mosque again after the downfall of communism. They clearly kept their religion even under the communists.

The only thing I hate about communism is the economic system. It does not motivate people to progress. In my view, the thing that drives progress is the lust for wealth. Mind you, this lust must be circumscribed by transparent rules, agreed upon by all people, and enforced equally. But this didn't happen under the New Order administration.

Had I been among the '66 Generation, I would be ashamed of myself now. In the past, I dared to shout "Sukarno is a dog". Now I am mute, although the situation is the same.

I am concerned with the situation, but I can do nothing because I am a product of the New Order administration, that is, the apathetic and skeptical generation; people who learn A at school but doing B in daily life, learn about Pancasila at school but we are just imitating our parents.

The frustration at such situation and anger are bottled up, but the moment will eventually come for it to explode.