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.