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.