Wanted: The first true Indonesian statesman

Wanted: The first true Indonesian statesman

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Still embroiled in a seemingly perpetual crisis of political and
economic uncertainty, Indonesia's future could well appear even
bleaker still due to the dearth of statesmanship among the
members of the political elite.

One would be hard pressed to find anyone who is willing to
exercise leadership wisely without narrow political partisanship
and who is still able to get things done in government.

At least that is what senior analysts Komaruddin Hidayat and
Fachry Ali believe, as they join the many Indonesians who yearn
for the kind of statesmanship that was exemplified by many of
Indonesia's leaders of the 1940s and 1950s.

It is this lack of statesmanship, they say, that has left
Indonesia in a rut, struggling to overcome its homebred vices of
corruption and political opportunism.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, noted Muslim scholar
Komaruddin Hidayat suggested that the current political elite
consisted of those born from a state of "heart-broken communalism
and disappointed regions".

All this against a backdrop of a generation of aspiring
members of the political class who were sidelined for 32 long
years during the Soeharto era.

"We currently have no politicians who display statesmanship as
the best leaders were 'killed off' by Soeharto," Komaruddin said.

"Our politicians are the product of emotional, not rational
thought," he added. "They came to the fore and benefited from the
failure of the state following Soeharto's downfall."

Similarly, political analyst Fachry Ali said that none of the
current members of the elite showed even a remote semblance of
the statesmanship shown by the nation's founding fathers.

Not even President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who has been
propelled into the maelstrom of the current political culture.

In a note of disappointment, Fachry said Megawati, known
initially as the most populist of leaders, has eschewed her
idealism to become politically pragmatic for the sake of
survival.

"We cannot find leaders or politicians who sincerely struggle
for the nation without expecting something in return," he told
the Post.

These comment echoed those of Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad
Syafii Ma'arif, who on Monday cited a lack of statesmanship as a
principal reason for the country's current woes.

"One of the reasons is the half-feudalistic culture and the
authoritarian political system... which have destroyed our
ability to see wood from the trees," he said.

"The culture of waiting for Bapak's orders has killed off our
initiative and creativity," he told a discussion sponsored by the
pro-reform Gerakan Jalan Lurus (Straight Path Movement).

Fachry believed that the character of people such as Muslim
scholar Nurcholish Madjid should be emulated.

"If he were to join a political party, he could gain much from
it. But he prefers to stay away," he said.

Another such figure, according to Fachry, is the East Timor
President Xanana Gusmao, who despite having suffered bitterly
under Indonesian rule, has not hesitated to take the lead in
broaching a reconciliation with Jakarta.

Komaruddin, on the other hand, placed his hopes in the
upcoming crop of leaders. "It will be at least after another two
elections, or 10 years, that we might be able to start building
up this nation again with leaders imbued with a high degree of
statesmanship."