Wake up, Indonesia: Face the bitter reality

Abdillah Toha, Executive Director, Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IN-SEP), Jakarta

We are now in the second year of a new and turbulent century. The year 2001, more so in the last quarter, has seen dramatic developments that changed the way we perceive things in the world.

The battle of Afghanistan is nearing its end but the American appetite, to take unilateral military action in other parts of the world suspected of harboring terrorists, has not ceased. While the new Afghan administration is being installed, the U.S.- led campaign is now directed toward hunting down Osama bin Laden, who seems to have eluded the hunters.

Europe, having launched a common monetary unit, is engaged in a debate on what should be the right format for a future Europe. A federation or a union of national states?

India and Pakistan are confronting each other on their common border in Kashmir, bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear contest.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) once again failed to save its patient, and Argentina's economy, which is not dissimilar to Indonesia's, collapsed. Her government decided officially to default on its foreign debts.

Israel took unilateral and arbitrary military action in Palestine, arresting "militant dissidents", isolating its leader Yasser Arafat, and hence diminished the prospects for peace in this most sensitive part of the world.

In the meantime, the large economies of the world, in America, Europe and Japan, continued to slide downward in a recession that already has and will have wide impact on the rest of the planet.

While these dramatic changes took place with worrisome repercussions for the future, sadly enough, Indonesia seems to be more concerned with inconsequential matters that have haunted us in the last four years.

The print and electronic mass media seem to be more interested in the predicament of former president Soeharto and the fate of his troublesome heir, Tommy.

Instead of focusing our attention on the bigger issues facing us in the coming year, the media, as well as our government and politicians, are debating endlessly on what to do with Soeharto. Daily we were presented in the local newspapers and TV with hourly bulletins on Soeharto's health, as if the world might come to an end if the former dictator died.

Ministers, legislators and observers are busy giving conflicting opinions on whether to pardon the former dictator or bring him to justice.

We were also presented with boring pictures of Tommy Soeharto grinning to viewers, flanked by the Jakarta Metropolitan police who seemed to have nothing better to do than take care of him.

In another mind-blowing development recently, the idea has been mooted by the management of the accident-prone Indonesian Railway Company (PT KAI) that the train that recently collided and killed, as well as critically injured, scores of people should be given a new and luckier name to avoid future accidents.

Have we all lost our balance and forgotten that there are more important things that need our immediate attention? Can we no longer think straight and rationally?

It's time to wake up, Indonesia! Until when should we busy ourselves and waste our energy on matters that could have been solved a long time ago? We have been in a continuous crisis for five years now, without seeming to be able to escape the web.

If South Korea could drag two of its ex-presidents to court, Thailand brought its newly appointed prime minister before a court of justice, and our neighbor the Philippines jailed its former president without much fanfare, why can't we make up our mind? Are we a nation of cowards or are there other motives behind the rhetoric of our leaders?

Enough is enough. The government and its agencies should make up their mind once and for all to take Soeharto and his cronies to court and leave the entire process to the justice system, and then free itself to manage the country properly without being distracted by such a sideshow.

Our legislators should focus their attention on initiating new laws that are badly needed to improve our legal system and institutions. The mass media should present facts and independent analysis on the progress and deviations of government. And our political and economic observers should air only views to those matters that are the concern of a public that has yet to be lifted from its suffering.

The year 2002 poses an even greater challenge to us. The political, security, military and economic map of the world is changing very rapidly. The Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington have created an entirely different, yet monolithic interpretation of international relations, led by the United States and its European allies, which are becoming increasingly unilateral in their global approach.

We cannot stand still and simply spectate. We should make accurate predictions on the global geopolitical and economic scene impacting us next year and design a proper strategy to confront possible threats. We should look very carefully at various political and economic scenarios and determine what scenario will most likely prevail.

We ought to improve our intelligence-gathering, both nationally and globally, to prevent unforeseen surprises. We need to change the style of our national leadership so as to motivate and inspire our people more.

We should put our priorities straight and deal with them one by one in a businesslike way. We need to know where we are going. We will have to make certain that our economy will not collapse, as happened in Argentina. We should avoid placing additional burdens on ordinary people solely to maintain our reputation as a "good boy" in the eyes of the IMF, lest we face again the wrath of the people.

The global economic, security and political facts in the last quarter of this year clearly point to unwarranted developments. Added to this are economic indicators in our own backyard that seem to be continuously disheartening.

These are: a high unemployment rate that is comparable to none in the modern world, a huge public debt that might become a time bomb, a fiscal condition that is incapable of stimulating the economy, unending corruption in almost all spheres of government, potentially violent ethnic and separatist outbreaks in some regions, the absence of much-needed foreign capital inflow in the form of foreign direct investment, the vulnerability of our currency and the inability of Bank Indonesia to lower interest rates.

There is a further long list of problems that could not be specified here without taking up too much space, related to public services, health, education, corporate governance, regional autonomy, privatization and so on.

For better or worse, 2002 will be a turning point for the world and for us in Indonesia. Either the world will become a better place to live, or the careless military adventurism that is being indulged in by the West might bring us closer to cataclysm and more suffering of mankind.

We in Indonesia should just as well be prepared for all possibilities. We should do away with wishful thinking. We should mobilize our energy and thoughts, minimize political bickering and agree on a national strategy that will take us away from our closetful of problems.

Or at least we should endeavor to come out triumphant and resilient against unpleasant developments that are likely in the global scene. Time is not on our side. May the New Year open our hearts and minds to clearer thinking in solving our national problems.