Positive aspects in the New Year

Positive aspects in the New Year

As the nation enters the New Year there have been some
positive developments, related to the government, worth
mentioning.

President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has failed miserably as
a head of state, but as a Muslim cleric, he has been successful.
He is in his element when he preaches about religion and he has
had plenty of such opportunities during this turn of the
millennium when great religious festivities were held almost
concurrently.

He had successfully brought home the message that all
religions share the same great universal message of spreading
peace and love among mankind. To Indonesian religious fanatics
who show no tolerance of other people's religious feelings,
Abdurrahman Wahid's message came at the right time, like a cool
breeze on a hot afternoon (remember the spate of bombing
incidents?).

The President is so progressive in his spirituality that he
has allowed his youngest daughter to have pink colored hair on
her birthday while most Muslim women are not even allowed to show
their hair.

Another encouraging development in the New Year is the coming
into force the law on regional autonomy, which gives the people
in the various regions greater say in the affairs of the state
and allows them to exercise their democratic rights. However this
law is in an experimental stage.

Now that the law has been put into practice, the problems will
be coming to the surface. Though the sharing of revenues between
the central government and the regional administrations looks so
easy in theory, in practice it may create more problems than it
could solve. Some political parties have accused the government
of implementing the laws on regional autonomy halfheartedly for
fear of losing the central government's income.

There are also fears that the various newly created autonomies
will fight over maritime boundaries and resources such as fish.
The provincial councillors do not appear to be ready to play
their new roles. Yet the regional autonomy must be implemented. I
am confident the system will progressively improve.

With regards to Tommy Soeharto, my suspicion that the police
were just bluffing when they said they could find the fugitive
son of former president Soeharto before the end of 2000, has
turned out to be true. But why should Abdurrahman Wahid lie to
the people when he said that Tommy was actually caught by the
police, but escaped after the President was contacted about the
matter. Now it does not matter anymore if either Tommy or even
Soeharto himself escapes the maze of the law; people are becoming
indifferent to this issue.

What still matters, however, is that those responsible for the
series of bombing incidents, be brought to court soon, otherwise
such incidents may happen again, as people will no longer have
any respect for the law.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta