Regional discontent threatens unity

JIMBARAN, Bali (JP): Rising regional discontent and anti- military sentiments are two major issues that President Abdurrahman Wahid's new government must address to prevent the nation from disintegrating, military observers and experts said on Saturday.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), pointed out at how local administrations were allowed very few initiatives.

Policies and programs were delivered top-down to ensure uniformity of policy throughout the archipelago, regardless of the great diversity found on the ground, Dewi told a seminar.

The government in the past kept a very tight rein over policy and practices, and dealt ruthlessly with incipient opposition to over-centralization and domination by central government.

Although Jakarta's iron fist at first seemed to succeed in pacifying the regions, in reality the policy had failed to deal with the roots of regional discontent and has, in fact, created new grievances, Dewi said.

Regional discontent has been an endemic problem in Indonesia since the first days of independence in 1945, but it was severely oppressed by the government in the past, she said, citing the examples of South Sulawesi, Maluku, Irian Jaya, Sumatra and even West Java in the late 1950s and 1960s.

She classified regional insurgences under three headings: separatism, ideological movements and political-economic discontent.

"Although in other parts of the country the situation was never as serious as in Aceh and Irian Jaya, except East Timor which was a very special case, the feeling of resentment against Jakarta's repressive and arbitrary rule, as well as its lack of concern or sensitivity for local needs, was widespread among the population as a whole," said Dewi.

Over-centralization and an obsession with uniformity made the national motto of unity in diversity nothing more than an empty slogan, which led to a general feeling of alienation and resentment against the perceived domination of Java, she said.

In this era of reform, Indonesia will not able to maintain its unity and territorial integrity without paying serious attention to the extreme heterogeneity of the population, and their desire to retain their intrinsic identities within the framework of national unity, she said.

"Each ethnic group in Indonesia wishes to cling to its distinctive characteristics, so that unity in diversity is the only solution for Indonesia," Dewi asserted.

Dewi, a former spokeswoman for the then president B.J. Habibie, urged the new government to wholeheartedly implement the laws on regional autonomy and on fiscal balance which will allow a significant devaluation of power from the central to regional governments at the district level.

The local government will also be able to retain a much greater share of the natural resources available in their areas, she said.

Andi A. Mallarangeng, a lecturer at the Institute for Governmental Studies (IIP), said the new government should loosen its grip and domination over the regions, let them manage their own affairs and not repeat the mistakes of the previous regime, which used the regions simply as a source of revenue.

"The government should not belittle the threats of several provinces to separate from the central government. It must be able to accommodate their dissatisfaction," Andi said

Harold Crouch, a senior fellow at the Australian National University, said growing criticism against the military indicated that it had lost the respect of much of the public and was indeed hated by many because of its human rights violations and its brutality.

The government's failure to fully investigate cases of human rights abuses involving military personnel has resulted in increasing demands for the military to return to their barracks, Crouch said.

"This new political atmosphere, in which the military are under constant criticism and condemnation, has produced a great sense of demoralization among military officers who had grown accustomed to their high status under the old regime, which allowed them to enjoy the perquisites of office and immunity from public criticism," said Crouch.

He also warned the new civilian administration to learn from the recent military coup in Pakistan which was not protested by civilians as they were also not satisfied with the corrupt civilian regime.

"There is no reason to assume that democracy in Indonesia must follow the Pakistani path, but it is better to learn from the mistakes of others than to suffer from the same mistakes," he said. (prb)