The search for common ground

By Irawan Abidin

THE VATICAN: The images of Indonesia in the minds of most people all over the world today are those that have been provided by mass media: riots, ethnic violence, violations of human rights, and intractable secessionist movements. Indeed, judging from media reports alone, Indonesia is a country that is entirely bereft of peace and has little hope for peace. This is not true.

As Indonesian Ambassador, I have made use of every opportunity to explain to every official and every group that I come in contact with in the Holy See, the smallest state with the smallest population in the world, but whose influence and leadership are tremendous, that such an image of Indonesia is simply not true.

But I never say that the media reports are false. What I maintain is that they do not present the complete picture and so they do not warrant any sweeping conclusions.

I tell them that the reports do not, for instance, show that in most of Indonesia, life goes on normally and people are busy in the task of nation-building. They do not show how hard are the present leaders of the country trying to preserve the nation's unity and to bring it back on the road to development through far-reaching reforms. They do not show that even in the troubled areas, there are individuals working for peace at great personal risk.

This is not to deny that Indonesia is in trouble. Indonesia is in deep trouble and it faces a real threat of disintegration if the Government does not succeed in establishing peace all over the archipelago. But internal peace is still possible in Indonesia because there are enough Indonesians who want peace and are willing to work for it. Peace is still possible because the internal conflicts in the country are not beyond solution.

Those who are advocating secession and risking civil war, those who are driven by provocateurs to riot, those who are plotting ethnic violence and even the criminals in the seediest streets of Indonesia's cities, they are all people with problems who are looking for solutions in the wrong places.

They have problems like unemployment, lack of income, inability to send their children to school, lack of housing, uncollected garbage, inadequate health care, a sense of outrage at the violation of their dignity and their common sense of justice by those in authority, a sense of helplessness for lack of participation in the decision-making processes that affect their lives.

They have come to conclude that their problems can only be solved through violence, through victory in conflict, through crime. Or that there is no solution to their problems, so what do they lose by rioting? Such desperation and such despair are largely due to their perception that the Government does not care.

Under the present democratically elected Government that is earnestly working to institute real reform, such a perception is no longer accurate. But it is not enough that the Government actually cares. It must convince the people that it does.

The challenge to the Government now is to show its problem- saddled people, regardless of faction, that it is capable, ready and willing to engage in dialogue and to deliver what is expected of it in terms of services to the extent that resources will allow if they will only give the Government a chance. The Government must put all its efforts and resources into the task of starting such a dialogue.

When such a dialogue can take place, all the factions involved in the conflict and strife will then be able to see that all of them, together with the Government, can find common ground and stand on it together.

Such a common ground, to my mind, is the commitment to work together to solve the problems that most Indonesian individuals and their families are contending with at the grassroots level. For national policies are meaningless unless and until they are translated into concrete actions that are designed to solve the problems of people at the grassroots level. And when problems are being solved at that level, then the people will realize that they have a stake in the future of Indonesia and they must therefore preserve and protect their country. Then peace has a chance.

I have told all these to various audiences in the Holy See and their response has been heartening. The people in the Holy See are, after all, opinion leaders to the rest of the Roman Catholic world. Their views are respected even by non-Catholics.

And they assure me that they will pray for peace in Indonesia in an era of democratic reform. That is what every Indonesian who loves his or her country should also be praying for.

The writer is Indonesia's ambassador to the Holy See.