What kind of leader does RI need?

What kind of leader does RI need?

By Santo Koesoebjono

WASSENAAR, The Netherlands (JP): Since May 1998, the country
has been embarking on the era of political reformasi (reform).
What the people have witnessed so far, however, is a continuing
power struggle among the political elite. No basic reform has
been made, let alone any improvement to people's living
conditions.

The members of the elite are fighting for the highest position
and for the support of diverse factions with the objective of
continuing or maintaining the existing political system. It is
difficult to imagine that the different leaders and political
parties will be willing to spend time and be able to propose a
concrete development plan for the coming five years aimed at
improving people's living conditions.

Since the fall of Soeharto, several imperious and self-
proclaiming candidates have been jostling for the presidential
position. They have proclaimed themselves to be the most capable
to govern and lead the country into a new era. These would-be
leaders are living in a glasshouse, observing the country and its
population from a distance, elevated in the capital city and
surrounded by real or pseudoadvisors, free riders and sycophants.
Each of them has his own hidden agenda and career plan.

These so-called leaders become the center point of everything
and are very important, pretentious and almost sacred. Their
opinion and views are perceived as a proclamation and are
compelling. People should listen to them and follow blindly.
These leaders speak in slogans and oracles.

For them, the man on the street and everything else happening
in the country are a very remote reality. Recently, a
presidential candidate stated to businessmen in the Netherlands
that should he be elected president, he would change the economy
of Indonesia so that it would be based on the profit principle
and free trade. When asked what he meant by that, the candidate
replied that this concept still had to be worked out.

What do these candidate leaders know about the people's
problems? The leaders belong to the elite class. Indeed, many
articles have been written and analyses given in the plethora of
seminars and forums, journals and magazines.

But are these leaders willing to read and internalize the
results and recommendations of the scientific forums and the news
presented in the media?

Are they open to new ideas and views about what is going on in
society and among ordinary people? How should news be presented
to affect the way of thinking of these leaders and the other
members of the elite? Are demonstrations the only means to get
the message across?

Moreover, do these leaders have an organization that does not
only give the needed votes in the election, but that also is
capable in carrying out the programs when the party will be in
power? The party/organization has indeed managed to mobilize
people for a one-time action, such as an election.

However, is that organization strong enough to motivate and
mobilize their supporters and the people for as long as the party
is in power? To achieve that, a strong and disciplined
organization is essential since development is a long and complex
social process.

Two types of leadership can be drawn up. First are leaders
whose origin is from the center: that is, they mostly come from
the same elite clan, passed the same type of education, have
studied in prestigious universities in the country or abroad in
the United States, United Kingdom or Australia, met each other in
the same offices and restaurants and have a similar career plan.

Frequently, the children of the elite marry among themselves,
creating a social inbreeding and network, and form a security for
the maintenance of the clan's economic and social position. The
booming economy in the past three decades has precipitated an
explosive conspicuous consumption among the elite and therefore,
helped to strengthen their status.

The second type of leadership originates from the people and
comes from outside the center of politics. This leader is not
part of the elite in the government center. This man or woman is
more informed of what is going on among the people at the
grassroots level and in the countryside. The drawback is that the
governing body, or the elite, will not accept such a leader since
he is not from the inner circle.

This leader is perceived as a danger, a virus in the
maintenance and reproduction of the rigid elite clan. In the
Indonesian context, the presidents, candidates for president and
top government officials all come from the elite class. In
contrast, leaders like Wim Kok, the Prime Minister of the
Netherlands, the late Nyerere, the former president of Tanzania,
and John Major, the former prime minister of the United Kingdom,
come from the common class. John Major's father was a variety
artist.

To preserve the current comfortable state in Indonesia, a
leader from the elite class tends to manipulate the people as can
be seen in the recent events in East Timor and other events
diverting everyone's attention from the basic suffering of common
people. So the common man will again become a victim and an easy
target of manipulation and indoctrination by the selected elite
who are just providing lip service on democracy, transparency and
other catchy slogans, such as the "dire fate of our people".

The persistence of this situation will worsen the disparity
between the center, namely the western-oriented capital city and
urban areas with its modern economy on one hand, and the
periphery, namely urban fringes and rural areas that are
economically less developed and socially disrupted.

One does not need to be highly educated or cultivated to
understand that such a gap between the center and the periphery
is morally and ethically undesirable and unacceptable. This gap
will become the source of social unrest and turmoil that can grow
more severely than the May 1998 events and can endanger the unity
of the state.

As the economist Tipton says "it needs to be kept in mind that
development means change, that change is uncomfortable, and that
change threatens existing interests." Therefore, the elite does
not support change or development which does not serve their own
interests.

Furthermore, their own interests can be narrowly defined and
are focused on themselves personally, their families, their
friends, other members of their own class, members of their
religious, ethnic or regional community, and only finally on an
abstract notion of the general good or the overall development of
the economy. Do the elite of the center, namely of Jakarta and
the urban areas, really want to change their attitude and
behavior for the sake of the periphery?

Unfortunately, a sense of accountability, responsibility and
integrity is difficult to find among the present generation in
Indonesian society, a former director of the Bank of Indonesia
said.

In accordance to that, the Senior Minister and former Prime
Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with a
Dutch newspaper, NRC-Handelsblad on Sept. 4, 1999: "The problem
facing the future society is how to maintain values and norms
irrespective of the type of government. These norms and values
are manifested in terms of integrity toward the family, respect
between friends, feeling of faithfulness and trust and self-
reliance."

To achieve a better condition, Indonesia needs a good leader
who originates from the people, is accountable, responsible and
has a strong sense of integrity.

The elite should change their attitude and behavior and should
show more consideration toward people outside their class. They
should be more aware about the suffering of people and translate
this awareness into action, showing more accountability of their
actions toward those for whom these policies are developed.

This would be a good start for a government that seriously
wants to improve the participation and living conditions of
people.

The would-be leaders should step down from their seat and join
the common people to formulate and carry out the development
program and should they not, as has happened in the past, they
should drop all plans and ideas from the center.

The writer is an economist and demographer.