Setting foot on two boats

From Merdeka

During the New Order regime, all Cabinet ministers and government officials from the upper to the lower echelon were ordered to campaign for Golkar. Apart from their official job, they were also Golkar functionaries and leaders at various levels. The president himself chaired the board of elder members.

The results satisfied them all. A single majority dominated the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly. The assembly succeeded in appointing the chairman of Golkar's board president for a sixth term. But in the end, for all their engineering, they had to face reality. President Soeharto was toppled by a reform movement and the New Order regime collapsed.

The appointment of B.J. Habibie as president gave rise to a constitutional controversy that finally cooled down. The reform movement did not run as smoothly as expected. Remnants of the New Order regime in the government and representative institutions continue to exert influence, not different from setting one's feet in two boats.

The government fell but Golkar remains in power, with a new paradigm, a new name, a new determination voicing reform in defense of the people's interests. But there is no solution to collusion, corruption and nepotism.

Three political laws passed by the remnants of the House were said to be efforts of reform. Toward the general election there is a new game but with an old tune. Ministers and officials want to campaign again, with the pretext of legal rights, citizens' rights, etc. A profusion of promises again, money spending by some officials. The old promises have not been fulfilled and now come new ones. The people are aware of the whole situation.

The sun of reform is high in the sky. It is broad daylight. Do not wake up too late. The people's eyes are already open. Do not stand in two boats. Formerly the people were afraid, now they are no longer afraid, especially the students.

SOETARNO

Jakarta