Quo vadis reform?

Quo vadis reform?

Bidding farewell to the old year 2001 will not be a heart-
breaking event for most Indonesians, as it will end without
leaving any sweet memories. On the other hand, welcoming in the
new year won't be a particularly joyous occasion either, as 2002
seems set to offer a great deal of uncertainty.

Indonesians tiptoed into this year with the lingering trauma
of the Christmas Eve bombings, hoping against hope that then
president Abdurrahman Wahid and vice president Megawati
Soekarnoputri would somehow be able to put the nation back on the
right track toward a more humane, civil society.

Instead, the first half of 2001 witnessed the heightening
political crisis that eventually brought down Abdurrahman Wahid
and anointed Megawati as the fifth president of the republic. The
second half of the year was no better. Burdened with the policy
chaos that she inherited from previous governments, President
Megawati had barely begun her work when the world was rocked by
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. And all the while the
Indonesian economy muddled through a difficult environment,
recording lower growth than in the previous year.

The political reform movement of 1998 that forced Soeharto to
quit his presidency should have become an important watershed in
the development of various sectors in Indonesia. Reform was
supposed to bring the nation back in line with the goal its
founding fathers dreamt about more than half a century ago: that
is, building a sovereign nation across a sprawling archipelagic
country, where hundreds of ethnic groups from diverse historical,
religious and cultural backgrounds could establish a more humane,
civil society.

To achieve this aim, the entire political, social and economic
legacy of Soeharto's regime, which has seen the whole nation
being subjected to the supremacy of the state, has to be
fundamentally reformed. Otherwise, ensuing governments will only
perpetuate the old legacy of the state at the expense of the
people.

In fact that is exactly what has happened over the last three
years under three consecutive presidents.

From the standpoint of genuine reform leading to a new
Indonesia that would be more just, more affluent, more democratic
and more humane, the nation has not moved far from where it was
when Soeharto decided to quit in May 1998. The outdated and
easily manipulated Constitution of 1945 is still there, the
notorious KKN (corruption, collusion, and nepotism) is
ubiquitous, the corrupt and inept bureaucracy has not changed,
human rights abuses continue, horizontal conflicts have not
abated, the legal system and its apparatus keep on insulting the
people's sense of justice, the futile political institutions and
organizations are not any better, and so forth.

There is some semblance of progress. To mention just one
example, the implementation of regional autonomy as stipulated by
laws no. 22/1999 and no. 25/1999 made its debut early this year.
However, both laws were so ill-prepared that the resulting
effects have created more costs than benefits for the nation as a
whole, as well as for the common people in the regions. It looks
more likely to spread the diseases of the central government to
the regional governments in terms of KKN, irresponsibility, a
lack of accountability, disregard of the environment and the
concentration of wealth around people in power.

The end result is less and less confidence in the government,
in the bureaucracy, whether civilian or military, in the House(s)
of Representatives, in the whole legal system, in anything that
connotes power. Hence, for example, the inhuman practice of
"justice" by the people in the streets who burn thieves when they
are caught red-handed. And it is not surprising either that
investment in the country has been decreasing, whether from local
business people or from foreign sources.

The coming year will be crucial for President Megawati and the
whole nation. From the political point of view, nobody can
guarantee the survival of her presidency through the next MPR
(People's Consultative Assembly). And the country simply cannot
afford another president after all these years. From the economic
point of view, all indicators point to the high probability of
less growth, which at the least means more unemployment.

Nevertheless, with the global economic outlook promising a
rebound before the end of next year due to lower oil prices and
lower interest rates, there will still be a good chance that
Indonesia can survive economically next year with the right
prescription.

All it needs is strong leadership, coming from the president
herself, with the right sense of urgency to steer the nation back
on the right track toward a more humane, civil society. To
accomplish that, the nation should first of all realize that it
has been moving on the wrong track for the last three years.