Political change in 1997 seen amid free trade

SEMARANG (JP): There will be great political change next year as the nation gears up for economic liberalization, and strives to find a balance between its obsessions for stability and economic growth, according to political observer Riswandha Imawan.

"The government's obsession to create political stability along with economic growth required a common stance by members of the elite," he told The Jakarta Post here Saturday. "This, of course, has much to do with the elite's ability to organize so that their interests don't clash."

Riswandha, a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences, said this year had been marked with instability as seen in the elite's conflicting statements on many issues.

"Next year, there will be even bigger clashes, occurring in line with the country's preparations for economic liberalization," he said. "We can cope with the situation so long as members of the elite adopt a common stance. Otherwise, the imbalance will get even bigger."

He said the country needed new leaders who could manage conflicts between competing interests. Unfortunately, people with great leadership potential had not yet emerged because of the nation's deeply ingrained habit of deferring problems to "the one great man".

"People then become reluctant to show their potential to be new leaders," he said.

"Every time a conflict occurs, people tend to take sides (with parties perceived to be close to President Soeharto) rather than solving it," he said.

He cited disputes within the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) as an example. Rather than solving the party's dual leadership problem, people in charge of political development decided to take sides.

Riswandha's hopes for change look bleak. Moslem scholar Dahlan Ranuwihardjo said Saturday there was only a slight chance of political change in the near future.

Skeptical

"I'm skeptical there will be changes for the better," he said after the launch of Islam and Politics, a book by Moslem scholar Syafii Maarif, at University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Dahlan said the country needed democratization for change to occur. Slow democratization indicated limited change, he said.

The government had once opened the corridor of democratization but closed it again recently. He did not elaborate.

Dahlan lamented the nation's failure to implement "honest and fair" principles in its past general elections as some people had demanded. He blamed this on the General Elections Committee's lack of independence.

"The members of the committee are mostly government officials, which means they cannot work independently or objectively," he said. (har/03)