RI moving in slow motion toward real independence

By Rikza Abdullah

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesians will express their gratitude to God as they celebrate 53 years of their country's independence tomorrow. But in this era of reform, it is worthwhile to reflect whether we have really enjoyed independence in any real sense.

Such a reflection is necessary because before the start of the economic crisis in the middle of last year, the mass media were dominated by upbeat reports, particularly on the rapid growth of the economy.

This had soared at more than 7 percent per annum in the last few years and per capita income had risen to over US$1,000.

Yet, Indonesians who are aware of their rights will doubt whether they have really enjoyed independence in its real sense.

With independence from colonialism, Indonesians could justifiably have expected greater freedom to enjoy their basic rights. But this was not to be. When political parties failed to implement parliamentary democracy in the 1950s, the country's first president, Sukarno, decided he wanted a new kind of democracy, "Guided Democracy".

His rule was felt to be far from democratic; his fall in 1966 was welcomed by the people, who were expecting Soeharto, with his New Order administration, to introduce political reform and greater democracy.

However, Soeharto only continued the earlier centralization of power, and Indonesians, historian Taufik Abdullah says, are still trying to break free of the "greedy states" developed by the former presidents.

"They (the presidents) were not satisfied with obedient, law- abiding citizens; they also wanted to conquer the consciousness of the nation," Taufik said.

Soeharto's policies had serious consequences regarding the violation of human rights. But even after the fall of Soeharto last May, human rights violations have continued to occur.

People in Central Java, for example, can provide ample information about limitations on their movements -- they need permits to transport goods to other provinces, for their children's wedding ceremonies, for business gatherings and so on.

Many artistic performers have failed to stage their creations because the government banned them for "social and security" reasons.

"We're still in a process of completing the initial agenda of obtaining democratic freedom and economic independence," Taufik said.

Mohtar Mas'oed, a political science lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, believes human rights problems frequently do not lie in the violation of civil or political rights but, rather, with their conceptualization.

On this level, he said, the government places a greater emphasis on certain economic and social rights. But activists see that the real goals of development, namely justice and prosperity, cannot be attained if citizens are not allowed to exercise their civil and political rights.

The poor protection of human rights has also been caused partly by the slow development of the legal sector.

T. Mulya Lubis, a noted lawyer and a member of the Working Group of the Forum for Democracy, said that compared to other sectors, the legal sector has been very much left behind.

During the colonial period, the contribution of the laws to the development of democracy and social justice was minimal, especially considering that the jurisprudence of the courts of law was not used much as a legal source.

Since independence, the role played by the laws has not undergone much change. But it is worth noting that many of the legal products introduced since independence, including those issued during the Soeharto administration, perpetuated the colonial legal policies as reflected in the idolization of stability, security and order, and economic growth, Lubis said.

The demand for legal reform, therefore, is a historical necessity. The most urgent legal reform, in terms of restoring civil and political rights, he writes, will include the revocation of repressive legislation, the revision of nonfacilitating laws and the drafting of new laws supportive of the reform drive.

Mohammad Sadli, a former cabinet minister, is warning that Indonesia, with the transitional government of President B.J. Habibie, is currently at a crossroads.

"From now on, the political system should definitely be much more democratic," he said. "But there is still the danger of a power takeover by a strongman and a setback for our country's flowering democracy."