'Turn over new leaf for future life of nation'

By J. Soedjati Djiwandono

JAKARTA (JP): Since the resignation of president Soeharto almost three years ago, there have been public demands for legal proceedings to be taken against uncountable cases of crime related to various forms of corruption and violations of human rights. Few cases, however, have been brought to court, many are pending, and many more are unlikely to be. These will likely remain beyond the reach of the law, and most probably the truth of so many cases will never be revealed.

One can easily point to a number of obvious hurdles. There are simply too many cases. Some are long-standing, going back to the onset of Soeharto's New Order government: the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people alleged to be communists or to have been involved in the coup attempt allegedly masterminded by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI); many sentenced to death; many more detained for years without trial. Members and supporters of the PKI had also killed probably as many, including Army generals and lower-ranking officers, which marked the outset of the September-30 movement of 1965, and which triggered the massive retaliation.

A great number of recent and comparatively recent cases, however, remain fresh in the memory of the present generation of Indonesians: the tragedy of Tanjung Priok in the mid-1980s; the Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor in the early 1990s; the May 14, 1998 tragedy that finally led to Soeharto's fall; those of Semanggi I of the same year and the Semanggi II of the following year; the Ketapang street riot; the witch-hunt targeting alleged black magic practitioners in Banyuwangi and surrounding towns; violent riots in Banjarmasin and West Kalimantan; the prolonged and still ongoing conflicts in Ambon and Maluku, Aceh and West Irian; the bombings in Jakarta, Medan and other provincial towns; and not least of all, violations of human rights relating to the referendum in East Timor. Others relate to longtime demands for independence, particularly in Aceh and Irian Jaya (West Papua).

Then there must be hundreds of cases of corruption and abuses of power during Soeharto's rule and after. The list may be endless.

No one can be sure if many, let alone all, of those cases are likely to be solved. Many will remain shrouded in mystery and never revealed for years to come. It is doubtful if any government will be able to handle such cases satisfactorily, let alone the current government under President Abdurrahman Wahid, with quite a number of wrong men in the wrong places at the wrong time.

At the same time, people are eagerly waiting for quick economic recovery and improvement in their daily lives, more jobs, greater security and stability; and the cessation of social conflicts in many areas of the country. What they are getting, however, are increasing uncertainty, continuous violence with more victims and human suffering; more displaced persons; more unemployment; lawlessness with many taking the law into their own hands instead of the upholding of the rule of law.

One of the catchwords of the present era of reform is the supremacy of law. But the rule of law presupposes just law. Yet, there are no efforts to review the existing laws of the land, some of which are obviously unjust.

Indeed, there have been reforms. But there are no priorities in the reform process, no well-planned action of reform, and clearly no clear idea or even proper understanding of reform and what to do about it and where to begin on the part of most politicians in all the branches of government. To be sure, without a fight, the politicians are enjoying certain fruits of reform, particularly freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, thanks to the reform movement spearheaded by young university students. They are also enjoying their positions of power. Whether they know what for is quite another question. The reform process has been in disarray. It may well take the country and the people to an abyss.

Those are thus two main categories of the problems faced by the nation at present. One belongs to the past, the other to the future. They must be dealt with simultaneously. They are of equal importance. The first is to be the starting point, the basis for the solution of the second. Both will be very costly in terms of time, financial and human resources.

Unfortunately, however, it is doubtful if the nation can deal with both successfully. We cannot possibly have the best of both worlds. We cannot have our cake and eat it, too. So what would be the alternative? To try to tackle the first, we are likely to forfeit the second. To focus on the second, we are likely to forfeit the first. How can we possibly face the dilemma if we cannot possibly seize the bull by the horns?

In other words, should we as a nation look back to the past or forward to the future? The most sensible alternative, though by no means easy, would be to take up the second alternative. This means that we should have the courage to forgive, if not to forget, the past. This is the essence of national reconciliation. We should be able and willing not only to forgive one another, but also to forgive ourselves.

That is not to say that we should forget the suffering of many people and the loss of thousands of lives in the past. We grieve over them. But there is no point in avenging them. We will never get them back. May they rest in peace. And rehabilitate those who have been wrong but are still living, and provide those still suffering from injustice and from wrongdoing with adequate compensation. Of great importance, however, is that as a nation we should never be forever obsessed by hatred and vengeance. Indeed, many of us have been traumatized by the acts of violence in the past. But so have many on the opposite side for the opposite reasons.

Moreover, it is wrong to put all the blame on just one person, say, former president Soeharto, plus his family and his cronies. The political system is such as to render it subject to easy manipulation. Hence the need for reform, which is essentially a change within and through the existing system, even if finally toward changing the system altogether.

Moreover, as I have argued earlier on, in one way or another, to different degrees, we all share responsibility for so much that has gone wrong in our country. We all helped, in our own way, in the making of a dictator, a monster that Soeharto came to be.

We need to bear in mind that by focusing our attention on the past, crying over the suffering and the loss of the past, including the loss of many lives, we would at the same time forget and sacrifice our future generations. Would we continue to demand vengeance for all wrongdoings in the past, even if justifying it with the slogan of upholding the rule of law and promoting justice but at the cost of our future generations?

We have talked about the lost generation during the crisis, babies and toddlers who lack proper nutrition. Would we add thousands or even millions more to their number?

That would be terribly wrong and immoral. We should not look and step back into the past, but forward into the future. We should whitewash and forgive the past, and turn over a new leaf in our life as a nation not only for ourselves, but also for our future generations and for humanity.

Time is pressing. We should have the courage and the will to do it before it is too late, before we disintegrate and disappear as a nation.

The writer is a political observer based in Jakarta.