The search for common ground

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.