People still accept power
I would like to react to the letter from Amir Sidharta Megawati will never be queen (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 29, 1999), as a reaction to my letter Megawati, best choice for president (Sept. 28, 1999).
In the first paragraph he mentions the fact that Megawati is the people's choice and it "should be taken into consideration". I find this a very strange statement. In true democracy, it is imperative that the people's choice is respected and carried out. As they say: "people get the leader they deserve". And this means for the good or the bad.
In the next paragraph, Mr. Sidharta says my comparison of Megawati with the queen of the Netherlands is invalid because Megawati is not running for queen. Of course, I did not have that in mind when I wanted to clarify that what I think lives in the hearts of people is a search for a caring symbolic person. I was saying that just like in other countries people look for a Bung (comrade), a Bapak (father) or, in this case, an Ibu (mother). And that is what they choose.
But also in this paragraph Mr. Sidharta says something very interesting: that a president should actually run the country. I think this is not true at all. In fact, the amount of power a president actually has is totally open for discussion and indeed many books have been dedicated to this subject. This discussion is far from resolved. Some people go as far as saying that grassroots workers can be just as politically influential as government officials. They reason that, eventually, no power can be executed unless people go along with it but it's opposite: no laws will be made that do not fit the atmosphere of the country. I myself would say that the power a president seems to have is a result of what the people, in general, accept. Only through that mechanism is there actually power. In Indonesia, people still accept that very much so there is very much power to be had "on top".
But whatever the reality of these theories is, one thing is for sure: the next president, be it Megawati or someone else, is definitely not going to "run the country". Actually, and officially, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) is running the country and is way more powerful.
In the next two paragraphs, Mr. Sidharta says, among other things, a strange thing like "intellectual writers should be free to express their opinion ... and not only voice the aspirations of the people". I hope other readers have not understood my letter in that way. I'm definitely not saying that other writers should refrain from commenting on Megawati or anyone for that matter. After all, I agree with Mr. Sidharta that there are better candidates for the job. What I'm saying is this: At my work every day I meet new Indonesians from many walks of life with whom, apart from work, I also talk about life, the crisis and politics.
Upon returning home, I read the Post and many times I am painfully aware of the huge gap between their knowledge and opinion of politics and what is reflected in the Post, and I realize that they would never be satisfied with an intellectual like Amien Rais, however good I think he is. When I read these opinions, I feel they are too far away from the day-to-day life in the fields, in the shop and on the bemo (three-wheeled motorized taxi) and I would like to bridge this gap if only for a moment by asking intelligent writers among us not to forget this.
HUUB NEYS
Kuta, Bali