Trisakti, four years later

Trisakti, four years later

On this day, May 13, as readers open these pages, gatherings
will no doubt be held at various places throughout the country to
commemorate the events that took place exactly four years ago,
which shook the nation out of its lethargy and set the movement
for democratic reform rolling. To be more precise, however, that
day, May 13, 1998, merely marked the peak of violence in a string
of events that ultimately forced then president Soeharto from
power. That happened eight days later, on May 21.

For those who are not familiar with the events of that time,
what happened, in the proverbial nutshell, was this: On May 12,
with the student movement across the country clearly showing
signs of coagulating and student unrest spreading everywhere,
students of Trisakti University started one of the largest
antigovernment demonstrations in front of their campus in West
Jakarta. It was, by all accounts, despite the noise, a peaceful
demonstration. However, as the students started to return to
their campus, four of them were shot dead by sniper fire.

Their funeral the following day, attended by thousands, set in
motion a violent flood of long pent-up discontent during which,
for two days, hordes of people, consisting mostly of Jakarta's
urban poor, looted and burned all they came across in one of the
largest rampaging sprees the city had ever experienced. Chinese-
owned shops and business establishments bore the brunt of the
rage. This was the trigger that set in motion the final downfall
of Soeharto.

But while not everyone is agreed on what precisely transpired
during and immediately following those incidents until the fall
of the erstwhile Indonesian autocrat, it seems, with hindsight,
that it was the sacrifice of the lives of the four Trisakti
students that gave the final impetus to set the reform movement
moving.

Having reached that conclusion, it seems proper for us at this
point to ask ourselves whether that sacrifice was not made in
vain. The point is that for most of those who were directly
involved in setting the reform movement rolling, precious little
has been achieved today, four years after what has become known
as the Trisakti Case. or Incident?

It is true that the realities of life normally mean that
change occurs slowly. Nevertheless, it is frustrating these days
to see how our politicians handle affairs of state as if no
radical change had taken place. Group interests still rule and
the power of money still seems to be as strong as ever.

In places such as Maluku, where sectarian strife has raged for
years and taken thousands of lives, no satisfactory resolution of
the conflict seems to be in sight as, again, group interests vie
for dominance.

As legislators bicker among themselves and with the executive,
the forces of resistance against amending the 1945 Constitution
appear to be left hanging in the balance and conservatism is
hampering even the formation of a commission on the Constitution.

For those who are currently in a position of power, the
message from all of this is that those who fail to heed the
lessons of history are prone to repeat the old mistakes. History
has proven that even in a developing country such as Indonesia,
democracy, with all its shortcomings, is still the most workable
system of government. In a case where democracy appears to be
hard to achieve, the remedy should not be sought via a return to
authoritarian rule, which would only sweep existing problems
under the proverbial carpet.

Let this lesson therefore be learned. Too many sacrifices have
already occurred at the altar of Indonesian democracy to betray
those who made them.