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curriculum, which might be out of date.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.