Revolution or war?

Revolution or war?

Two extraordinary reports appeared in this newspaper, on
its National page last week. The first contained a strong warning
coming from respected Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid that only
war and revolution to restore the reform movement could rescue
Indonesia from bankruptcy. The second concerned the House of
Representatives, which during the entire August and September
period was able to deal with only two of 30 draft bills tabled
for deliberation.

It has become somewhat commonplace for many Indonesians to
hear warnings that their country is close to becoming a failed
state -- so common that they no longer take them seriously.
However, when respected personalities such as Nurcholish Madjid,
Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Maarif and Catholic priest Franz
Magnis-Suseno alert the nation, as they did during a seminar in
Yogyakarta last week that the country's extinction was only a
matter of time, we had better take notice.

In Nurcholish' words, only war and revolution to restore the
reform movement could rescue the nation from bankruptcy. It is
not difficult to follow his reasoning. The country is at the top
of the list of the world's most corrupt nations, while acts of
violence and terrorism are on the rise.

Undeniably, the legislature is most energetic in criticizing
the government, which of course is one of its most important
missions. But it often seems to be overdoing this criticism in
carrying out its legislative duties. Take, for example, the case
of the purchase of the Russian Sukhoi jet fighters. Legislators
that were initially so noisy in blaming President Megawati
Soekarnoputri for the deal have suddenly pretended to have
forgotten their own threats to investigate the matter in the
first place. The question that many people are asking is, why?

There is a growing perception among the public that corruption
and abuse of power among legislators, both at a national and
regional level, is probably no less rampant than what is
allegedly committed within the executive branch. At least, in the
public's view, our legislators show their enthusiasm only in
passing "lucrative" bills because of the big incentives that they
allegedly stand to receive. Worse, the House is led by Akbar
Tandjung, who has a court conviction hanging over his head for
corruption. With such poor credibility, what can we expect from
the House?

The major political parties, which are busy accumulating the
assets they need to finance next year's general election
campaigns, have no time to think about acceleration of the reform
process.

In the meantime, Megawati is busy complaining that the public
does not appreciate the hard work she is doing, apparently
forgetting that her achievement in creating political stability
is due more to her inability to eradicate corruption, terminate
abuses of human rights and let corruptors continue to have a free
hand, rather than her own initiative. Despite Soeharto's downfall
five years ago, the system that he created during his 32-year
rule effectively remains intact, while corruption has worsened.

It is difficult, therefore, to escape the conclusion that the
pessimistic views of the scholars mentioned above are based on
factual observation. But what can we do? We cannot wait for
miracles to occur. The nation must act quickly if it wants to
improve its standing among the civilized nations of the world.

When we look back on the process of Soeharto's downfall in
1998, we can see that the driving force behind the people's
desire to oust the five-star general at the time was not the
people who are now in top political positions. It was university
students and academics who risked their lives to fight for the
country's democracy.

Before Soeharto's downfall, many of us may have been upset at
students' noisy street demonstrations. At that time, it was
unthinkable to many that Soeharto could lose his grip on power
merely because of some student movements. When Soeharto finally
did quit, the role of the students was often belittled by those
who thought their role much greater than that of the young
activists.

We truly appreciate the initiative taken by Gadjah Mada
University to hold a seminar in Yogyakarta last week. Within that
context we hope that the university can and will revive the
University Rectors Forum, which was also instrumental in ending
Soeharto's rule. We need the voice of the campuses to restore the
reform movement because of its high moral integrity. As things
are at present, the reform movement is effectively dead, both in
economic and political terms.

The people have abandoned trust and hope in the major
political parties and their leaders. Still, our expectations from
the university campuses and from those who have the capability to
save the nation from yet another disaster, remain high. We are
confident that our society is ready to contribute to efforts to
restore the reform movement.