On political decency

Elsewhere in the world, or even in this country at a different time, the case might not have attracted the widespread public attention that it has now. Most probably, the factor that makes it something of a cause celebre within the current Indonesian context is that the kind of moral principle, which is known among the Dutch as politiek fatsoen, has for so long been absent from Indonesia's political scene.

The case in point concerns the resignation of Sophan Sophiaan, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), as a member of the House of Representatives (DPR), and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the two "houses" of the Indonesian legislature, where he has served the nation and his party for many years.

In the context of Sophan's latest decision, the word fatsoen can probably best be translated into English as the word "decency", "propriety" or "decorum". Politiek fatsoen, then, would be to behave with decency, or propriety, in matters of politics.

In essence, it is the willingness to take responsibility for one's actions, either by taking decisions with a proper sense of responsibility or otherwise. If that cannot be done, it is one's voluntary withdrawal from the political decision-making process.

Sophan refused to explain his action to the public, at least not before he had done so to the PDI Perjuangan party board. Word has been circulating for some time, however, that disappointment over the performance of fellow legislators and over the political situation in general was the reason of his resignation.

Sophan, who is considered to be one of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's close associates, submitted his resignation to the DPR and MPR last Friday, on which occasion he told the media that his decision to quit was due to his inability to adapt to current political conditions.

An earlier resignation request, submitted several months ago, was rejected by the President. It is speculated that this latest decision was prompted by a major rift in the trouble-prone party. Sophan's only comment in response was that the situation was a result of "misperceptions about certain ideas" of Megawati.

To be sure, resignations from important positions are not really new in Indonesia. One prime example was the resignation of Mohammad Hatta from the vice presidency in the 1950s, after what observers described as irreconcilable differences between the vice president and then president Sukarno. These resulted, among other things, from Sukarno's insistence on admitting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) into the Cabinet. Similarly, then vice president Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX declined to be reelected for a third time during president Soeharto's New Order era in 1978.

Since then, however, such resignations on considerations of conscience or morality have become a rare phenomenon, if they ever occur at all. One key government figure during the Soeharto era who was under pressure to resign even publicly commented that it was "not in the Indonesian tradition" for officials to resign voluntarily.

Thus, the refusal, or reluctance, of Golkar's Akbar Tanjung to resign from his position as House of Representatives speaker, in the wake of his formally being declared a suspect in a major corruption case, can be seen as an extension of that "tradition".

The reform movement notwithstanding, it is thus still very much the tradition to hold on to one's job at whatever cost, at least in politics. Elsewhere, though, such as in the world of business, resignations as a token of acceptance of responsibility, either on moral grounds, for failures or for nonachievement, appears to be growing, as witness the recent resignation of some top officials of the state railway company, PT KAI.

Let's just hope that, few as these instances still are at the moment, it is a sign of morality gaining ground, slowly perhaps, but surely.