No change in govt approach to stability, says historian

JAKARTA (JP): A senior historian said yesterday the government has not made any significant changes in its staunch approach toward stability in 52 years of independence.

Ong Hok Ham of the National Institute of Science said at a seminar held by the Center for Political Studies and Public Advocacy that the current debate pitting stability against reformation of the politically elite was inherited from the past.

"Classic disputes between stability and reformation also occurred in the past, although the players differed from those of today," he said.

Ong was referring to Australian political scientist Herbert Feith's observation that the Indonesian elite under Sukarno were divided into solidarity-making groups and problem-solving groups.

Ong said president Sukarno typified solidarity makers who pushed for solidarity for the sake of national stability. The group believed that the Indonesian revolution had yet to finish, and therefore national stability was endangered.

The other group, led by former vice president Mohammad Hatta and former prime minister Sutan Sjahrir, opposed Sukarno, saying that Indonesia should make development and democracy its top priorities.

Ong noted that the government was not at all lenient toward opposition.

"Government's policy toward opposition has become extra tough now. Any opposition, even though it does not lead to a coup d'etat, is always considered serious now," Ong said.

Another speaker at the seminar, Hermawan Sulistyo, said political freedom in the country has been restricted by the floating mass policy which was introduced prior to the 1977 general election.

The policy bans political organizations from districts and lower administrative levels.

It has drawn criticism because it favors the bureaucracy- supported Golkar faction, with the fact that all heads of districts and subdistricts are included in the bureaucracy.

Hermawan said the depolitization process remained in force because some key figures in the country's politically elite group suffered "old wounds" caused by the mass violence triggered by the abortive coup attempt, blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party, in 1965.

"After 30 years, the trauma has not faded because figures of that generation are still here playing pivotal roles in the decision-making process," said Hermawan, also from the National Institute of Science. (14/amd)