The curse on the presidency

The curse on the presidency

Referring to Bapak Soegih Arto's letter A curse on the
presidency published on Nov. 4, 1999, I feel obliged to comment
on the subject to make things clearer. Pak Soegih Arto stated
that B.J. Habibie suffered also the curse because he made many
mistakes due to his inexperience in state and political matters.
As a politician he is a big zero.

I really support your statement, especially after reading the
textbook for students all over Indonesia Manusia dan kebudayaan
di Indonesia (Men and Culture in Indonesia). Kuntjaraningrat's
theory says that the system of politics in Indonesia derives from
two main cultures -- peasant culture and maritime culture. The
peasant culture has the conception that a ruler must be a
descendant of God. Therefore, temples must be built to bury the
corpses of the rulers. If a ruler fail to perform well, it is
certain he will be cursed.

On the other hand, the maritime culture bases its economic
life on trade and sailing, and believe in rapid change. It is
more open to science and technology development. If a ruler did
something wrong, the law and the court should prove it. It seems
Habibie made a mistake by identifying himself as being closer to
the maritime culture rather than to the peasant culture that is
still dominant in our political life.

Habibie's error started when he claimed to be a Bugis born in
Parepare, South Sulawesi. He did not fit the requirement to be a
president, from the view of peasant culture, because he did not
have the wangsit (revelation), the prerequisite to become a
president which was asserted by Prof. Selo Sumarjan one day. From
then on, from far away, I observed that Habibie would never be
able to do anything right.

Criticism flooded in the form of riots in Java and, primarily,
in Jakarta, and through the mass media. Attacks were carried out
either openly or through conspiracy. In a truly new Indonesian
spirit, we ought to believe that the nation is really vulnerable
while being built into a new and modern Indonesia. People outside
Java feel it to be a great injustice.

What do we need to do to prevent turbulence in any
presidential election? In my opinion, the best way to prevent
riots, killings as well as other acts of violence and to maintain
unity is to adopt the most modern state administration. We should
follow the federal system as applied in America, Germany,
Britain, Australia, Malaysia, and even Russia. The system of the
past Mataram kingdom can be mentioned just as a part of our
history. In the past we also had maritime kingdoms in the eastern
part of Indonesia, such as Gowa, Buton and Tidore, etc., besides
numerous kingdoms that existed in the western part of the
archipelago.

NURDIN YATIM

Makassar, South Sulawesi