Van Dijk's new book answers questions on RI

A COUNTRY IN DESPAIR: INDONESIA BETWEEN 1997-2000 Author: Kees van Dijk Published by KITLV Press, Leiden, The Netherlands Price: Rp 290,000

JAKARTA (JP): Human memory is short and note-taking is not the Indonesian people's forte. These two facts alone are reason enough to look at this book as a priceless gift for Indonesia.

A professor in the history of Islam in Indonesia at Leiden University, Kees van Dijk rightly focused his book on the 1997- 2000 period where critical changes occurred so quickly they became a puzzle even to many Indonesians. Financial crisis became the backdrop to the collapse of president Soeharto's regime, preceded and followed by fatal rioting.

Being a historian, van Dijk delved into Indonesia's past history with ease and has put events into perspective.

Describing the riots during the May 1997 elections, for example, he noted how easily motor parades of party supporters degenerated into violence the way it was with the violence of the 1910's involving members of Sarekat Islam.

When the national solidarity group for the Tanjung Priok incident was set up in June 1998 to probe the case, van Dijk reminded his readers that it was a repeat of a demand tabled by the Petition of Fifty dissident group in 1984, the year the mass killings in northern Jakarta occurred.

Van Dijk divides his book into 20 chapters beginning with the months prior to the 1997 elections and closing with the time when Abdurrahman Wahid started to lose support.

In between, he wrote about Soeharto's resignation, corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN), his wealth, and about the communal violence that occurred, among other things.

Through his painstaking record-keeping one could sense the building up of tension towards a climax and anti-climax of the nation's historical development.

In essence, van Dijk has reconstructed the public discourse through local reports and inserted his critical reflections upon it.

He noted that the people for the first time publicly dared to refer to what had happened in March 1966 as a coup d'etat. Because of revelations by people like Sukardjo Wilardjito, doubts began to creep in, if they had not been there already, about Indonesia's recent history as it had been written down and taught during the New Order, van Dijk writes.

In the book, a lot of questions find ready answers.

For example, when did the rift between President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri occur for the first time?

August 2000.

How many people were killed in Aceh from June to August last year?

Forty-seven.

Neither do tragi-comic facts escape van Dijk's attention. During the Aug. 7 to Aug. 18, 1999 annual session of the People's Consultative Assembly, he noted that old customs were restored when the members stood up as Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri entered and left the chamber.

He added: "A more serious repetition of past practices was that four students who staged a hunger strike during the annual session disappeared on Aug. 14. They resurfaced two weeks later, still too confused to reveal what they had experienced," (p. 524).

This incident, as many in the past, has had no legal follow- up.

Sometimes, he leaves a nagging question in the reader's mind like the controversy surrounding the removal of the chief of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), Agus Wirahadikusumah.

Why did such a thing happen to a general who wanted to uncover a corruption case? And what about the allegations that the general was scheming to take control of the army?

These questions remain a mystery.

Should the judicial system improve one day, prosecutors only need to open this book to start their work.

Van Dijk is meticulous in his note taking.

An example from the 1998 Habibie government period: "Because of the prolonged drought, Bulog had only been able to procure 96,500 tons of rice. The supply of rice stocked by Bulog for the whole of the year was estimated at no more than a mere 250,000 tons, at the most 500,000."

Bulog is the state body responsible for regulating the distribution of basic staples.

Likewise, the exchange rate of the rupiah on July 11, 1998 was Rp 2,450 to the dollar, on July 21 it was Rp 2,700.

The same meticulousness applies to historical data. Gen. Maraden Panggabean (p. 218) also came in 1966 to Bogor where first president Sukarno was staying in addition to three other generals.

And he and Basuki Rahmat, in fact, drew out their pistols to force Sukarno to sign the Order of March 11, or Supersemar, assigning Soeharto to take care of security.

A police team was set up to investigate the case but "as was to become habitual after May in such politically sensitive cases ... no concrete results have ever been made public."

During the June 1999 elections, van Dijk wrote that the students doubted "that free and fair elections could be organized under the Habibie government which, in their eyes, lacked popular legitimation and was, in essence, a pro-status quo regime (p. 433).

"The new political parties that had emerged they also viewed with distrust, suspecting that their leaders only wanted power. This line of reasoning encouraged the students to stick to their call for a transitional government. Another of their demands was that Golkar be disbanded or at least be barred from participating in the elections."

We can see today how accurate the students' assessment was.

Another example. The then military chief Wiranto was reported to have been trying for three months without success to quell the Muslim- Christian conflict in Maluku in early 1999 (p. 387).

The conflict is still raging today and is entering its third year. Few would believe then that it could continue that long.

The book is worth reading for anyone who has an interest in Indonesia.

The downside of the book? The press only won its freedom three years ago. A warning is needed for readers about reports which might not conform with journalistic ethics. Another minor downside includes less than precise translations. For example, makan hati (p. 71) was translated literally as "eat liver" rather than irksome.

Far from listing dull facts, the book is fascinating reading. Looking at the pictures the reader feels as if they are reliving that exciting period. The list of ministers and military officers holding key positions is a welcome bonus.

Given the rapid changes occurring in the country, van Dijk might have to continue his work to include the year 2001 and beyond. (Harry Bhaskara