Reforming attitudes

Reforming attitudes

Even as Indonesia's newly installed President Habibie swore in
his cabinet over the weekend, pros and cons over his taking over
the reigns of the administration from the departed president
Soeharto -- and over the manner in which it was done -- continued
to simmer among the ranks of the heretofore seemingly solidly
united proreform activists.

Rather than let ourselves be overly worried about such a
development, however, it is much better that all parties involved
in, and concerned about, the movement -- students, academics and
other proreformists as well as the public at large -- recognize
that differences of opinion are a natural phenomenon in any
democratic environment.

The problem is how to resolve in a peaceful, amicable manner
those differences which, after all, exist among people who share
the same basic wish: to establish a better, more democratic
Indonesia, for themselves and for coming generations of
Indonesians. We Indonesians have at this stage only just begun to
take the first step toward building a more open and democratic
society. A tremendous amount of work still has to be done.

Unfortunately, after having lived for so long in a mental
prison as it were, Indonesians now need to learn, by practice, to
live in an environment of responsible freedom. In many spheres of
public life, Indonesians have for decades been encouraged to
conform, to accept without argument the "truths" and "values" as
interpreted by those in power. Creativity and initiative were
tolerated only in as far as they did not transgress the
boundaries of acceptability set by the authorities.

Books by prominent Indonesian authors that have become
standard reading in other countries are banned at home. Stage
performances -- especially those whose general message was a
condemnation of official corruption and abuse of power -- were
banned on the pretext that they would "upset the public order".
Dissenters, even some of the most morally inspired, were shunned
or denied leading roles in public and societal life.

The result of all this can be seen today in the very fact that
even though reform has become something of a national motto,
little has changed in the way most Indonesians conduct and
express themselves in public life. Many are still averse as ever
to candidly say what they think should be said or done as their
deepest conscience dictates. Euphemisms and indirect expressions
continue to blur the Indonesian language.

Yet, all of us now realize that all this has helped to create
the kind of societal and political environment that has
ultimately led to the crash of our currency and economy, and
subsequently to the crisis of confidence that has so seriously
ravaged our country

But if the word "reform" is to have any meaning, a beginning
must somehow be made with changing this attitude. Somehow, we
have to break out of this mental prison we have occupied for so
long. This effort must be initiated by the people and the
authorities together.

The media must be able to independently balance freedom and
responsibility through a commonly agreed code of ethics and
without fear of being muzzled. The freedoms of expression and
association must be guaranteed by abolishing the policy of
exclusive government-sanctioned organizations. To render all this
effective, obviously the judiciary must function as it is
supposed to under the Constitution: independently and free from
intervention by the executive branch of government.

All this must be done quickly or not only will all the
promises of fundamental reforms lose their credibility, but
society itself could slide back into the old habit of
subservience to and dependence on those in power.