'Turn over new leaf for future life of nation'

'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.