'Strong regime needed to promote stability'

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president Soeharto had taught an expensive lesson on how to run a strong government, something that Indonesia was now desperately is seeking, and also how an absence of democracy could be the end result, experts said on Monday.

Indonesianist Robert Edward Elson told participants during a ceremony marking the launching of his book at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) here that, whether we liked it or not, the way Soeharto governed had offered the country stability and prosperity.

But he was quick to remind his audience that an effective means had to be created to prevent autocracy gaining a foothold in the future as had happened under the 32-year-old New Order regime in the past.

"What Indonesians need is an effective means for preventing strong centralization while at the same time not over- decentralizing power so as to make the state weak and hard to govern," he said.

Elson, a professor in politics at Griffith University in Australia, has just completed his latest book titled Suharto: A Political Biography. The book is published by Cambridge University Press.

Political observer Mochtar Pabottinggi and former Indonesian ambassador to Australia Sabam Siagian also spoke at the book launching.

The post-Soeharto administrations have inherited Indonesia's worst economic crisis ever, one that remains unabated, and political euphoria that has fueled separatist movements in some provinces.

The current government is trying to lure back investment, much of which has fled the country due to political instability.

Mochtar agreed that a strong regime was needed to bring stability to the country, but it should not go too far.

He said Soeharto's autocratic style had provided a good lesson for any regime taking up the reins of power in Indonesia in that he, as well as his predecessor Sukarno, had tried to establish presidencies for life.

"This practice is very dangerous for democracy since it only results in leaders turning into irrational leaders," he said.

"Where there is a presidency for life, political systems become unable to perform effectively. The tendency is to weaken political institutions, such as political parties, and this threatens the existence of democracy."

Elson said that besides creating a strong government, the government of the day should create a balance between social and individual needs.

"Indonesians should be able to seek an appropriate balance between social and individual needs," he said.

In the past, social needs were given greater room than individual needs and this led to the rights of the individual being ignored.

"As a result, Indonesia saw rampant human rights abuses during the New Order era, in which individuals were sacrificed to serve the needs of the community," he said.

To promote democracy, Elson suggested that Indonesians must also try to pursue the delicate balance between a strong national identity and a diversity of beliefs.

"Indonesians should strike a balance between a sense of strong national identity or strong national purpose, and tolerance in accepting a diversity of beliefs in the sphere of regionalism, religious and ethnic differences, and so forth," he said.