Sincerity needed for true repentance

By Mochtar Buchori

JAKARTA (JP): "What do you think of Amien Rais' call to the nation that we repent?" a journalist asked me over the phone referring to the chairman of Muhammadiyah which has 28 million members.

"It is a good idea. It is excellent," I answered.

"But do you think it will be effective?"

I was lost. I simply could not grasp what he actually wanted to ask me. I did not have any inkling of how he perceives the act of appealing or beseeching, and how he judges its impact to be either effective or ineffective.

What does he expect from a national campaign of imploring the public to repent? So, I asked him, "What do you mean?"

"I mean will a national campaign to repent result in us not making all the stupid mistakes we have made this far? Can such a campaign turn us into a more responsible and decent nation?"

This guy is really naive, I said to myself. How shall I explain to him that a national campaign for repentance is not meant to clean the nation of all the dirt it has heaped upon itself? How shall I explain to him that there is no such thing as instant transformation when it comes to national predilections of good and bad behavior?

"The purpose of a national campaign to repent is not to clean us instantly of our sins," I said. "It is aimed at reminding us that we have made mistakes in the past, which not all of us are willing to acknowledge. There are some mistakes that some of us made out of ignorance. But there are also mistakes that we made knowingly and willingly, but which we somehow tried to justify or defend.

"But no matter how hard we try to justify our mistakes, morally speaking mistakes remain mistakes. Now that we are overcome by so many mishaps, many among the public look upon these misfortunes as divine punishment for all the transgressions that we made in the past.

"If we show our remorse and regret now, and promise that we will improve ourselves morally, hopefully God will forgive us, and all these unfortunate accidents will stop plaguing us.

"This is the purpose of a national campaign for repentance. Whether we will become more responsible or not as a nation depends upon what we do after we repent.

"Repentance is just an action of the moment, but one that we must do with all the sincerity we can marshal. Only an act of repentance prompted by deep-felt regret about past mistakes will generate further actions heading towards self-improvement.

"Repentance is an act of double promise, that is a promise not to repeat past mistakes, and a promise to improve oneself. This is why sincerity is so important in any act of repentance."

I stopped for a moment, giving the guy at the other end time to digest all the things I had said. I was aware that I could have sounded like I was preaching to him, and that he could resent me for that. I hate to be preached to myself, especially by someone I don't know personally. But what I heard from the other end was a polite and meek, "Yes, Sir!."

This gave me courage to continue my rhetoric. I said that there is no guarantee that every one of us will join this campaign for national repentance. I am sure there are persons among us who do not feel any guilt even though they were involved in some of the national scandals that have brought our nation into its present miserable conditions.

This kind of people will not genuinely participate in any national campaign for repentance. They may outwardly join the movement, but in their hearts they may say to themselves, "You are all fools. This country is full of fools. And they think they are holy." These people will get away unscathed. This happened in the past, and it will happen again in the future.

This fact notwithstanding, though, we should not feel discouraged. We must persist in our efforts to strive for a clean society. I think there are still enough people in this country who are willing to do anything within their reach to bring about a more decent and orderly society.

There are many among us who, naive or not, genuinely feel that a national campaign for repentance could be the beginning of a national movement to reject any scheme that harms our society.

There are still enough people who believe that such movement could lead us further toward a more active campaign, that is a campaign to support schemes aimed at cleaning up the existing mess. If this happens, we will be at the threshold of a clean society that has the effective capacity to generate a clean and trustworthy government.

The voice at the other end asked, "But aren't we in the midst of a national campaign to fight corruption and collusion now? From time to time, don't we hear people in the government say that the fight against corruption will never succeed without the support of the people?"

"That is just the problem! Just because there are those in the upper echelons of the hierarchy who repeatedly condemn corruption and collusion, it does not mean that the nation has been effectively persuaded to reject these two evils.

"Not everyone has the moral capacity to make the public repent. Only those perceived by society as having never been compromised in their moral conduct have the moral power to move public conscience. Those perceived by the public as stigmatized by corruption and collusion will not receive any attention from the public, no matter how frequently they condemn these two social ills."

In conclusion, I reminded him that we should recognize the difference between those who genuinely repent and amend their conduct, and the munafiqun who, according to Abdulah Yusuf Ali, are "the deep-dyed hypocrites, who when found out make excuses because otherwise they will suffer ignominy; they are unregenerate and obstinate, and there is no hope for them," (Note No. 1354 for Verse 106, Surah Al Tawbah).

The writer is an observer of social and political affairs.