When crooks and heroes are all the same

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

No matter how meritorious your service for your nation -- even with millions of people acknowledging it, not just your family --- you would be erroneous to assume you were entitled to be buried in the National Heroes Cemetery in Kalibata, South Jakarta.

Actually, it really doesn't matter whether you are crook, rights abuser, embezzler or a nobody. The Heroes Cemetery is an equal-opportunity graveyard. Once consigned a prestigious plot, there is every reason to believe that strangers will flock to your final resting place at least once a year -- on National Heroes Day on Nov. 10.

The truth is that heroism is more of an administrative matter these days than one of bravery or sacrifice.

Eyes could understandably be raised constantly these days when strolling through the cemetery grounds. You may find quite a few names that you would never have thought would be morally eligible to rest with some of this nation's most celebrated figures.

Despite a blatantly dubious record, as long as the courts -- the same courts that are notorious for bowing to power and wealth -- do not pronounce a man guilty, then he is eligible to be buried as a hero.

The prerequisite for a hero's funeral is simple: being a recipient of a state medal (like the Bintang Mahaputera, Guerrilla's Medal and the Kartika Eka Paksi medal). Most of these recipients are former military men, which explains why a majority of names etched on the gravestones in Kalibata and other local heroes cemeteries are preceded by a military rank.

Does that mean that civilians are much less heroic than those whose profession is to defend the country?

Well, nearly all former Cabinet ministers under former president Soeharto -- several of whom had been accused of abusing their privileges -- are there.

Being a hero, as it turns out, also runs in the family.

Soeharto declared his wife, the late Tien Soeharto, a national heroine, but her family decided to bury her in her hometown of Surakarta.

President BJ Habibie even decorated his wife and brother with the highest state medals. Neither did Megawati Soekarnoputri want to neglect this presidential privilege and awarded a similar honor to her father-in-law. Strangely, during her tenure little was actually done to rehabilitate her own father's name, first president Sukarno.

Former presidents, vice presidents, former chiefs of the Indonesian Military, Army, Air Force, Navy and National Police are nearly automatically listed as the next "residents" of the Kalibata cemetery.

Indonesia's most distinguished vice president, M. Hatta, however, refused to be buried there and while alive chose Tanah Kusir Cemetery in South Jakarta. While Soeharto instructed that Sukarno be buried in his hometown Blitar, East Java.

How is a national hero defined? What are the requirements? These questions are probably too academic.

Everyone has different criteria. For some twisted reason there are those who consider Osama bin Laden a hero. While others declare megastar Michael Jackson theirs.

Many say rights activist Munir deserved to be declared a hero after he was fatally poisoned, allegedly by people who regarded him a traitor for revealing to the world the brutal abuses that occurred in this country. But as far as administrative requirements are concerned he has little chance of being buried next to men whose career was built around defending the very institutions that Munir fought against.

There are countless of people who sacrificed their lives in this country's independence struggle. Most remain uncelebrated.

Then there are those who were committed to sacrifice in order to better this republic. They too are nameless.

Let us take a minute of silence to honor our "real" heroes today. May they rest in peace.

And concerning those questionably buried in Kalibata, well just forget them. It's an administrative matter.

The writer can be reached at purba@thejakartapost.com