Promoting democratic politics in RI

Promoting democratic politics in RI

Menggugat Politik Order Baru; (Indictment of the New Order Politics); By Syamsuddin Haris; Pustaka Utama Grafiti, Jakarta, 1998; xii + 348 pages

JAKARTA (JP): Many were caught by surprise when a hurricane of economic crisis suddenly swept through and destroyed the economy that we had boasted of for many years.

Lulled by our great economic development, we suddenly found ourselves amid virtual economic bankruptcy. Millions of people lost their jobs; prices soared and daily staples became scarce. We were then enlightened: Our economy has in fact been very much dependent on the outside world.

To many quarters, this devastating crisis is attributable to the failure of a democratic political life to serve its function. One of the functions of politics is to anticipate development and prepare instruments and or measures to properly deal with this development. However, self-satisfaction and an overbearing attitude have crippled this important function of politics.

The crippled function of politics in anticipating a disaster is closely linked with the essence of the political system adopted by the New Order, a system practically closed to an open forum in which one idea is posed against another, and one argument allows itself to be put to the test by another argument.

All 67 articles in this book convey critical ideas about the undemocratic tendencies in the political arrangements of the New Order. Therefore, the book also talks about the direction of political reform and where exactly it will be needed.

Syamsuddin Haris, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), often openly discusses various unhealthy tendencies in the New Order's political system and practices.

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Born in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara on Oct. 9, 1957, Haris has formulated a number of pressing political reform agendas, among others:

First, a change in the format of the general election. In this respect there are at least four things that are in urgent need of reform, namely * societal empowerment in the entire process of general election implementation; * reinforcement of the position of political organizations taking part in the general election on a just and equal basis in all institutional structures of the process; * improvement of representative and quality of people's representatives so that they not only know and are known by the voters, but also assume responsibility for those they represent; and * gradual restructuring of the organization and the organizing committee of the general election so that the government will serve as an arbiter and a facilitating party without having to "play the game" in the election.

Second, the abolition of the floating mass policy. In this respect, this policy must be subjected to a review because it is the right of the people to understand politics correctly -- namely in accordance with their own conscience -- and also because the people need political education and enlightenment.

Otherwise, our people will only fall "victims" to political rivalry among the elite, which usually acts supposedly on behalf of the people, their interests and aspirations.

Third, a reform of the party system. The government must be willing to give chances to all political organizations taking part in the election to compete fairly in the process.

Each of them must be allowed to be truly independent, free from any state intervention, interference and engineering. Besides, the fusion of political parties into only three organizations entitled to take part in the election has failed to serve as a way out for the realization of popular sovereignty.

The flop of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in 1997 general election indicates that the policy of restricting the number of parties must be reviewed and that the community must be allowed freedom to establish new parties that suit their aspirations and interests.

The worry that there will again be a multiparty system as in the 1955 general election is groundless because the number of parties can be naturally limited through the introduction of a regulation that only parties acquiring a certain minimum percentage of the votes may survive after the election.

Fourth, the establishment of a bureaucracy free from politics. Bureaucracy playing a double role as political players as in the New Order era will only lead to rampant practices of corruption, collusion, nepotism and monopoly so that good governance will remain only as jargon.

The bureaucratic elite at all levels, in Jakarta and in all remote corners in villages, have turned themselves into small kings and landlords demanding services, honor and tribute from the people.

So, bureaucracy must be controlled by the people through the presence of parties and the House of People's Representatives and not the reverse, as was the practice during the New Order era.

Fifth, redefinition of the dual role of the Armed Forces. The sociopolitical role of the Armed Forces in the 21st century needs a new basis for legitimacy. Its historical legitimacy, that is its role in the revolution and the establishment of the republic, can no longer be maintained by the Armed Forces of the new generation when the 1945 generation goes into retirement. The Armed Forces of the new generation needs new legitimacy and this will have its origin in the objective need of the Indonesian people in embarking upon the globalization era.

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As a collection of column pieces and articles, usually short, this book is more a collection of criticisms, protests and indictment addressed to the political reality of the New Order than an academic work with all its conventional tradition. In his short pieces, the writer asks his readers to join the indictment of the New Order politics and at the same time he reminds the government to return to the "straight path", namely the path offered by the founding fathers of this republic through Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.

As during the New Order era we generally experienced intense depoliticization practiced by the power holders, we'll find the book full of political enlightenment and education. With this enlightenment we may expect now to be able to discuss politics, an activity which used to be considered taboo in the New Order era, in order to be able to indict unjust practices by the power holders and also to promote a more democratic political culture. It is indeed a book of great value as a material for a case study or as a document of Indonesia's contemporary political history.

-- M. Wawan Shafwan

(A student of the Philosophy Department of IAIN Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta.)