Road to democracy still long for Indonesia

As a young nation, Indonesia has to grapple with a myriad of issues including those of peaceful leadership succession. Political analyst J. Soedjati Djiwandono shares his thoughts on the issue.

JAKARTA (JP): None of us, however smart, competent or powerful, is indispensable. The world will still go round without any of us around. This is something everyone in power, particularly national leaders, must always remember.

To think otherwise is to believe in a myth. And such a myth is often the creation of a leader as well as of his or her own people. This seems to be the case of Indonesia today.

The blame for the present leadership crisis in the country, which is the primary cause of the current crisis of confidence, therefore, must be put equally on the shoulders of both the leader and the public, neither of whom have any experience of peaceful change of leadership, and who cherish the myth of a philosopher king.

The feudal mentality that pervades the country has been manifested in other ways too. For one thing, no one dares to challenge the incumbent leader. Also, it has been considered unethical for some time even to talk openly about succession.

For a leader to refuse to step aside, even though he has outlived his relevance and usefulness, out of fear that no one is up to the task, is a monstrous exaggeration of his role and importance. It is also an insult to this great nation of more than 200 million people.

Indeed, there is no better way for a leader to demonstrate his greatness and caliber than by knowing when to step down and doing just that. The time will always come, sooner or later, when enough is enough.

Different visions and different approaches are required to face different challenges and to deal with different problems posed by changing times. These require new leadership. Everyone has his or her time.

It is against such a background that Megawati Soekarnoputri's challenge to the candidacy of President Soeharto for his seventh consecutive term is to be appreciated. So is the case of Amien Rais, the chairman of the Moslem organization Muhammadiyah who has also declared his candidacy.

To be sure, Megawati is legally out of the political power structure; out of the system, as it were, for her continued claim to the leadership of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) has been denied official recognition, which is a mockery of democracy.

As for Amien Rais, while his chairmanship of Muhammadiyah is officially recognized by the government, the organization is not a contestant in general elections, another farce in a nation that claims to be democratic. On that account, Amien Rais is also out of the political power structure.

In principle, however, the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), as the supreme governing body in the country's political system, has the power to nominate anyone for the office of president. Still I would not dare to speculate on the chances of either Megawati or Amien.

That, in all events, is of little importance under the circumstances. The phenomenon itself however is of great significance for democratic progress here.

Mention should also be made of an open rejection of Soeharto's renomination by one-and-a-half dozen scholars affiliated to the government-owned Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Being civil servants by definition, they are showing moral courage to express publicly their independent opinions, as this puts their careers at risk.

Those phenomena are indeed breakthroughs in Indonesian democracy. They are signs of democratic progress. Who knows, they may be just the tip of an iceberg. If they should fall on deaf ears, however, in view of the large number of yes-men occupying the seats of the nation's representative bodies, particularly the government-dominated MPR, it is only to be expected. The nation still has a long way to go on the road toward a sound democratic life.