Politicians told to focus on substance

Politicians told to focus on substance

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Drop the expensive suits and the act, and get down to the
substance of policy, Radhar Panca Dahana, a noted author and
artist, told local politicians on Tuesday.

Radhar said the political culture in the country was
alarmingly superficial and expensive, while politicians delivered
little.

Politics here did not help to create a more democratic and
educated society but instead produced high-profile elites who
spent their days fighting over their share of the national pie,
he said.

"Other countries provide huge budgets for research and
education. Here, instead of paying attention to research and
education, we pay politicians too much ... for the suits and
everything," he told the participants of a public lecture hosted
by the Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicated political think-tank.

If there was any concern for the nation left, politicians
should drop what was superficial and focus the substance of their
work, like financing research and education, Radhar said.

"Politicians should learn from the arts where interpretation
is wide open and the culture is more egalitarian. Most artists
dress casually instead of in expensive suits, they are more frank
and straightforward, and their work (mostly) gives something to
the people," Radhar said.

Political activist-entrepreneur Soegeng Sarjadi, meanwhile,
urged politicians to be graceful losers instead of trying to
bring each other down.

"I think this must be one of the only countries where defeated
political party candidates sue the winners," he said. High-
profile legal disputes have occurred recently the National
Awakening Party (PKB) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P).

Soegeng urged politicians to pay attention to detail,
especially important civil society projects like public
transport.

"Politics is not a matter of numbers. It's not about (the)
Golkar (Party) having millions of members, for instance. But it
is about the quality of people's lives," Soegeng said.

Appearing as a keynote speaker in the forum, former House of
Representatives' speaker and former Golkar chairman Akbar
Tandjung, meanwhile, suggested fellow politicians should focus
their energy more on creating leaders and statesmen instead
fighting internally.

The veteran politician said members of political parties had
been too pragmatic in their quest for power and had forgotten the
real value of politics.

"Politics must educate the public about democracy. Political
parties must put an emphasis on developing the quality of their
members, which local parties have yet to do. As a result, we
still lack good members," said Akbar, who now runs the Akbar
Tandjung Institute for political researches.