RI has weak president, troubled economy: Expert

RI has weak president, troubled economy: Expert

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has a weak president, a tarnished
military and a troubled economy -- but such a sorry state of
affairs actually provides a window of opportunity to prevent the
rise of yet another strongman ruler who causes people suffering,
a political scientist has concluded.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences
(LIPI) also told an international conference on democratization
in Indonesia that people now had an opportunity to decrease the
military's involvement in politics.

She pointed out that unlike in the country's previous
transition of power in the 1960s, when Sukarno was replaced by
another strongman, Soeharto, in May 1998 power was transferred to
a man widely regarded as a weak leader.

"...now the government is in the hands of President B.J.
Habibie who is regarded as a weak leader with no major political
force of his own and whose term in office is very limited," Dewi
said.

"While in earlier times the state was always stronger than
society, now the reverse is true," she said. "The troubles faced
by the military and its overall lack of credibility because of
human rights abuses compound the impression of a relatively weak
state on the one hand and an increasingly powerful civil society
on the other."

"There is now... an opportunity to prevent the rise of
another strongman and personal rule once and for all, as well as
to reduce the military's involvement in politics.

"The way is now open... to take part in shaping the country's
future political system," said Dewi, who is also the foreign
affairs assistant to the Minister/State Secretary.

Dewi was one of a number of illustrious political commentators
attending the three-day conference opened by LIPI director
Soefjan Tsauri. Minister of Education Juwono Sudarsono spoke
yesterday, as did Daniel Dhakidae, Mochtar Pabottingi, and Y.B.
Mangunwijaya.

International speakers in the discussion included R. William
Liddle and Richard Gunther from Ohio State University, Harold
Crouch from the Australian National University, Daniel S. Lev
from University of Washington in Seattle, and Juan J. Linz from
Yale University.

Lev and Linz, in an interview with Antara, said the Armed
Forces (ABRI) involvement in national politics had "distorted"
democratization here.

"A country whose political leader is a military man would see
a great distortion," Lev said, expressing his relief upon hearing
that a recent ABRI leadership meeting had decided to reduce the
sociopolitical role of the military.

"That's progress for Indonesian politics and
democratization... and should be welcomed," he said. "I see the
current ABRI leaders as a group of professionals who want to
encourage professionalism among their soldiers. But this will not
be easy and will take time."

He cited the fact that many of ABRI's senior figures were
currently enjoying a high political profile and might therefore
want to maintain the status quo.

Linz said democratization should proceed naturally and without
coercion. "What's important is that the police, the courts and
the bureaucracy function well so that leaders cannot force
everything from above."

Mangunwijaya, who is better known as Father Mangun, told the
seminar yesterday how the push for reform that helped force
Soeharto to step aside should be followed by a reform in
mentality and an overhaul of the whole political system.

Among the first steps that need to be taken is a revision of
the Constitution, he said.

He pointed out that Soeharto's cronies were still in power and
the system that he built remained in place.

"To rebuild Indonesia we need a new collective mentality, free
from the damage caused by 30 years of brainwashing in an era of
violence, intrigue, foul play and dishonest politics," he said.
(swe)