The message for Habibie

The message for Habibie

More harm than good. This, in a nutshell, is the restrained
but nonetheless unequivocal official view of this week's student
demonstrations in front of the nation's legislature in Jakarta.
Of course, a more positive opinion can hardly be expected from
these quarters. After all, the students' demands -- lower prices
of essential commodities, President B.J. Habibie's resignation
and his replacement by a national committee -- amount to no less
than a motion of no-confidence in the government.

To be fair, lowering the prices of the increasingly scarce
essential commodities to affordable levels amid the present
economic and political disorder would have been a gigantic task
for anyone to accomplish in the less-than-four-months that the
Habibie administration has been in office. What is perhaps
indicative of the nation's general mood at present, however, is
the cool public response which the student protesters seemed to
have received in Jakarta, at least for now.

The fact is that there is no question that for the large
majority of Indonesians, many of whom are already forced to lead
a hand-to-mouth existence with no solution to their day-to-day
problems in sight, the provision of food at reasonable prices is
by far the most urgent priority. In this respect, the official
argument that economic considerations must come first is hard to
refute.

It is wrong, however, to assume that students, in their more
elevated status, are unaware of this situation. Many students, in
fact, live in precisely the same conditions as their less well-
educated compatriots. In order to be able to pursue their
studies, many students must now already rely on food or financial
assistance provided by their universities or university staff.
Moreover, official figures show that the student drop-out rate is
sharply increasing.

What the debate is actually about is the difference in the way
students and most other Indonesians perceive the situation. At
the core of this debate is the old vicious circle of what must
come first, political reform or economic improvement. The fact is
that one cannot be accomplished without the other. The answer to
the question whether further student protests would be beneficial
or otherwise to the nation, then, depends on the side from which
one prefers to look at the problem.

Viewed from this perspective, the core of the message which
these most recent student demonstrations convey is that the
students -- like many other Indonesian intellectuals -- have no
faith in the Habibie government's ability, or even its desire, to
introduce the democratic reforms that, in their eyes, are
essential to lead the country and the nation toward a future that
is significantly better than the past. To them, the government is
clearly dragging its feet in fulfilling its promise to bring
about meaningful reform.

What, for example, has happened to the drafting of the new
political laws that the government promised would usher in a more
democratic system of governance in this country? What has
happened to the government's stated intention to stamp out
corruption and establish equal justice for all? Months-old calls
for the government to bring about a national reconciliation are
only now being responded to by announcing plans to establish a
reconciliation committee. Meanwhile many political prisoners
remain in prison and the government appears to be taking sides in
internal political party disputes. Restrictions on the freedom of
speech and expression are being reimposed and cabinet ministers
are being appointed to key legislative positions.

In all fairness it must be said that compared to the situation
that existed under the old New Order regime of former president
Soeharto, significant improvements with respect to
democratization and the observation of human rights have been
made. Still, too many of the old wrongs remain uncorrected. It is
true that massive student demonstrations at this point could
sidetrack the Habibie government's efforts to introduce
improvements. On the other hand, the students' and intellectuals'
fears that the current efforts at democratization might slow down
or even become stagnant appear justified. The message that all
this conveys is that Habibie must accelerate reform and pay
greater attention to his critics' demands if chaos is to be
averted.