Nobody wants a revolution

Nobody wants a revolution

No doubt many people overseas, when they read about Indonesia,
believe that this nation is headed toward a "violent upheaval".
Let us lay aside the sensationalist headlines for a while and
take a realistic look at our present situation.

Not a single Indonesian I know about, in or out of the
government, believes that the answer to our country's problems is
through a bloody revolution. The university students presently
holding on-campus demonstrations are pressing for reforms and
change, but not to the point of leaving Indonesia in ruins.

Few Indonesians want to -- and I believe never will -- emulate
the volatile, violence-prone extremists in such global
flashpoints as the Middle East, Sri Lanka or Northern Ireland.

Megawati Soekarnoputri, generally known as the "opposition
leader", has gone on record as saying her late father, former
president Sukarno, would never forgive her if any action of hers
resulted in Indonesia's dismemberment.

The other prominent critic of the government, Amien Rais, is
more a reformist than a radical. Former environment minister Emil
Salim is likewise a benign personality, even with his insistence
that changes must take place.

Relatively isolated riots, independent of one another, can
indeed make headlines, but they have not been on a truly
nationwide scale. What happens in impoverished towns in East Java
can only marginally have a ripple effect on fishing villages in
the Moluccas. Indonesia is not the size of a Manhattan borough in
New York City.

I would like to remind readers of the Beatles song Revolution.
Although John Lennon in some ways sympathized with the Irish
Republican Army, he also stated clearly in that tune: "But when
you talk about destruction/Don't you know that you can count me
out."

I tend to believe the vast majority of Indonesians feel the
same way.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta