Remembering good ol' days holds back future

Remembering good ol' days holds back future

One fine Sunday morning, the day I had been waiting for the
entire week, I was interrupted by my maid. She had just returned
from the market, carrying a plastic bag of vegetables. As she
entered our house, she began to grumble.

"This plastic bag is not full even though I have already spent
over Rp 10,000 for today's menu," she almost screamed.

"What did you expect?" I asked, half surprised, half amused.

"Well, I just bought vegetables to make pecel (steamed
vegetables with peanut sauce), sayur asem (sour soup) and tempeh.
But I had to pay over Rp 10,000 for all that," she was still
grumbling. "Back then they cost less than Rp 5,000."

"When?" I asked her.

"When Pak Harto was still president, before the riots," she
said.

Dear Lord! It had been five years and she could still remember
the prices at that time. Wow... my maid surely has a better
memory than me.

Nobody will ever forget what happened five years ago. Many
people were killed during the riots, many shops and houses were
razed. All of us suffered in the tragedy, many much more than
others.

As for my maid, it is still more important for her to think
about the prices than the political and economical impact of the
May riots.

Later, my fine Sunday was disturbed again by a similar
comment.

This time from my neighbor, who sat next to me during the
arisan (a gathering) in the afternoon.

She complained of her husband's small salary increase.

"We could save some money back then. But now, I have to think
twice before spending even for daily needs," she complained.

"I've got more headaches now as my son will go to elementary
school this year. It means extra money. Nothing is cheap even if
he goes to a state school."

She did not realize that I have the same problem. Many of us
have been complaining of our worsening economic situation within
the five years of reform.

I had to keep myself from yawning as she continued her litany
of complaints.

"People on TV like Amien Rais, Gus Dur and others always talk
about reform. What is it exactly? I don't see my life
improving..."

"Do you think we can have Pak Harto back as the president?"

I was enjoying my lemper (steamed glutinous rice with meat
filling) when she made that comment and I almost choked on it.

Not that I hate Pak Harto but I was shocked that after five
years of reform someone would make such a comment.

I was speechless. My mind went back to five years ago when
students staged street rallies demanding reform for a better
Indonesia.

And I have a neighbor who could make such a comment?

When I told my husband about that, he only laughed. Instead of
being optimistic, he simply said reform had yet to improve the
quality of life.

"Our people still need to learn. The political elite should
not give promises to the common people if they can't keep them.
No matter what the ruling party is, Golkar, PDI Perjuangan or
others, it is the people who still suffer most. Only those who
have top positions gain any advantage," he said.

At first I didn't understand why talking about reform and the
current situation in the country upset him so much. He finally
admitted it was due to one of his colleagues at the office.

Pak X, a cadre of PDI Perjuangan, had told all the employees
at the office, since the 1999 campaign, that if the party won the
general election it would eliminate school fees.

When our son was admitted to elementary school earlier this
year, my husband went to the office, carrying the invoice for our
son's tuition.

He gave the invoice to Pak X and asked him to go directly to
Ibu Mega (President Megawati Soekarnoputri, his party's
chairwoman) for reimbursement. Unfortunately, according to Pak X,
Ibu Mega was too busy with her tight schedule to take his call.

"I'll try to contact her as soon as possible," he boasted.

We didn't believe him, though, he who believes in those
politicians' empty promises.

I don't mean to be cynical, but have they kept their promises?
I don't think so.

I began to ask myself if my life had improved compared to five
years ago. I have to admit that the situation has changed. Of
course, there are always the positive and negative sides of
change. We just have to live with it.

We have to prepare ourselves to accept change and hope that
our leaders can also make improvements not only for their welfare
but more importantly for Indonesia as a nation.

If we keep remembering the "good" ole days, and this is highly
debatable, we'll never move forward.

-- Harini