RI needs to make a quick turnaround

The Habibie government is clocking up a hundred days this week. Political analyst J. Soedjati Djiwandono assesses how far it has gone in reforming the New Order government.

JAKARTA (JP): The fall of president Soeharto was by no means the end of the reform movement. He is the very man that had manipulated the entire political system from the very beginning of his New Order regime to such an extent that it became a one- man rule, an absolutist system of government he dominated for over three decades.

The implication is clear. Reform demands not only the end of Soeharto's rule but also the total dismantling of the very system he created. Hence, the lack of legitimacy of the present government and the rest of the state system, not only the executive but also the legislative branch and the judicature.

Indeed, being the supreme governing body in the country's political system, it is, in principle, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) that has the power to implement total reform of the system. But the way it was created was already part and parcel of Soeharto's manipulation through a manipulated election and contested by a manipulated party system.

Therefore, the impending special session of the MPR is not likely to meet the demands of reform despite the apparent shakeup of its membership, which has been done in precisely the same manipulative way as before. And the largest political party, Golkar, having been reorganized in no different manner. Hence, the vicious circle in which the nation has found itself.

The real power, however, if lacking in legitimacy, does not rest with the MPR, which convenes only once every five years, but with the Habibie government.

Is the Habibie government really interested in implementing reform to its completion, even at the risk of ultimately losing its own power, as the Soviet government under Gorbachev ultimately becoming a victim of the movement for glasnost and perestroika that he himself had set in motion?

Or on the contrary, is it more concerned over the perpetuation of its own power, using the Soeharto methods of distortion and manipulation, while here and there taking steps which on the surface look like meeting the nationwide demands for reform, and thereby deceiving the people, just as Soeharto used to do?

The only way the government can use the power at its disposal to pursue the reform process to its satisfactory completion would be to reverse most, if not all, forms of legislation enacted by the House of Representatives (DPR) and the MPR, and to reverse all the policies and the ways in which such policies were formulated and implemented by Soeharto's New Order that were essentially violations of the principles of justice, human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

What is needed is a complete turnaround. And this should apply to all aspects of the nation's life.

But President Habibie may not see it that way. I just don't know how he sees it. Nor do I know if he really understands reform or realizes the need for it. Worse still, I am not sure if he is the man calling the shots.

The debate on the rift-ridden Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) is a case in point. Soerjadi, the great pretender, has publicly admitted government interference in the party's internal affairs. But both the present home minister, Syarwan Hamid, and former home minister, Moch. Yogie S.M., have denied responsibility.

The present coordinating minister for political and security affairs, Feisal Tanjung, former commander of the Armed Forces, and thus Syarwan Hamid's boss when the latter was chief of staff for sociopolitical affairs, has remained silent.

It does not take a brilliant man to speculate on who was behind it all. After all, who was Yogie's superior when he was home minister? And who was Feisal's when he was commander of the Armed Forces? And yet, none of those high-ranking officials seem courageous enough to mention his name. Is this particular man still calling the shots?

In his first state address before the DPR on Aug. 15 to commemorate the 53rd proclamation of independence, Habibie promised, among other things, that in his economic policy he would promote transparency and abolish monopolies. But the question of monopolies in our economic system, and transparency in the management of state affairs, is a question of effective political control, which our political system sadly lacks.

The root of all evils of the New Order is the increasingly unlimited power of the presidency. Why does the Habibie government keep silent on this most fundamental flaw in our political system?

Why is it silent and at least slow on the question of reforming the electoral system, the party system, the composition of the DPR and MPR and the judicial review? These would constitute the primary control mechanisms in the political system.

President Habibie takes pride in the new freedom of expression now enjoyed by the people at large. But without proper channels, which would depend on reform in those fields, such freedom would be of little democratic value.

He should learn more about reform. Why reform is necessary. Where to begin. Who is to carry it out. And turn around quick, before we all crash.