The age of confusion

Since the government recently restored freedom of expression to the nation, many people have become wiser in expressing their opinions. They know what to say for the nation's better future.

However, the government seems unable to do anything to free its own officials from their chronic confusion. Although the spirit of reform has been instilled into most Indonesians, many officials seem too preoccupied with their old problem: the fear of acting.

This tendency is nothing new. It is a legacy from the three decades of President Soeharto's authoritarian rule where the feeling of fear was the highest virtue and the habit of waiting for an instruction from above was everyday fare.

The latest example of this old mentality was demonstrated by the Jakarta city administration this week. A senior executive of the city public order agency said on Monday that his office had not received any instructions from the city governor on whether or not to allow the ethnic Chinese to celebrate their Lunar New Year festival. The celebration was first banned during President Sukarno's regime in the 1950s and the prohibition was reinforced in 1967 Soeharto's military authority.

This confusion ruling the Jakarta administration looks trivial amid the chaotic national situation today but this is nothing but a tragic irony. It is part of today's confusion, which is marked by 'faux pas', misreading of the situation and misunderstanding of policies and the habit of violating human rights.

Not only does the policy directly concern a large group of our people, but President B. J. Habibie has long decreed that Indonesians of Chinese origin deserve treatment equal to that which other citizens receive. The tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year might look trivial to some officials but it has been a part of the Chinese tradition and enjoyed for thousands of years worldwide. It is clearly a basic right for the Indonesian Chinese too.

But the presidential decree, which was issued in September in the wake of anti-Chinese riots in many parts of the country, goes far beyond the festival. It covers all parts of the social, political and economic spectrums.

However, we regret to say that the Habibie government not only has an impeccable sense of timing but also has a tendency to later leave a policy to go cold. The decree has not been disseminated and the government seems to believe that all local officials have come out of the darkness of Soeharto's do-as-you- are-told system and are able to take some initiatives of their own. But they are not.

Many may not have understood that by the decree the authorities should also provide equal opportunities for the people of Chinese origin in every segment of life including both the military and the civil service.

This country has in fact practiced this policy since the 1950s. Under parliamentary democracy, ethnic Chinese enjoyed political opportunities and were treated as common citizens by the government although the authorities tried to improve the social and economic conditions of the poor, which mainly consisted of indigenous people. But there were ethnic Chinese in the Cabinets. Even Moslem parties had their ministers of Chinese origin.

President Sukarno, whose Guided Democracy took over in 1959, did the same. Only Soeharto, who replaced him and introduced crony capitalism, created the deadly social gap between the ethnic Chinese and the rest of the nation.

Now 90 percent of non-ethnic Chinese only run small and medium scale businesses. The repulsive reality has made the rich few the target of social jealousy.

It is the duty of the Habibie government to bridge the gap but it will never be able to do so if it is confused by its own policies.