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."