Uprooting the New Order

Uprooting the New Order

From Forum Keadilan

It is popular these days to discuss how to eradicate the New Order. As nearly everyone agrees the New Order is rooted in militarism, some people have opined that militarism should be crushed. Strangely, militarism is still alive and kicking among us. It has even seemingly gained strength. Evidence of this is the military style adopted by civilian organizations. Another obvious sign is the surprising abstention by the military/police faction in the House of Representatives during the vote on the second memorandum of censure against the President.

It is strange to see the military with a faction in the House, while the political system being built now is heading toward democracy. Members of the military are not special citizens, are they? If we view things in terms of historical logic, we will find that the New Order was supported by militarism and Muslim neo-modernism. The word Muslim is here used to distinguish it from Islam.

Muslim neo-modernism is a school of thought in contemporary Islamic theology. This school of thought is quite significant in legitimizing the inception years of the New Order. It also contributed significantly to the formative years of the New Order. The developmental concept and other political economic theories expounded by Rostow, which the New Order adopted without modification, are in line with the Muslim neo-modernist theological concept, which is characterized by gentleness, evolution and nonconfrontation.

If the cultural character of the New Order shows a tendency toward elitism, so does the Muslim neo-modernist school of thought. It is a fact that it is this school of thought that was able to forge a cooperation with the rulers to make a success of the policies of the New Order.

The pillars of the New Order were accommodated in Golkar. If a tree is taken as a metaphor for this situation, then the trunk of the tree is Golkar and its roots are militarism, Muslim neo- modernism and other groups in Golkar.

This metaphorical tree can grow only if the following conditions are met: favorable climate, good fertilizer, sufficient rainfall and good maintenance. These external factors -- the climate, the rainfall and good maintenance -- were brought into reality by the United States (the Western bloc). It was the United States which helped look after and foster the New Order, although in the final days of the Soeharto regime, the United States no longer provided any fertilizer, a reason why the New Order tree collapsed.

It sounds strange, therefore, if a neo-modernist Muslim figure is now shouting to uproot the New Order completely. A question must be asked: which root? It is the real root that must be taken out.

SYAHRUL EFENDI DA SOPANG

Jakarta