Whither reform?
Whither reform?
The demise of Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency has raised the
specter of a return to power of the forces of the repressive New
Order regime which could have an adverse impact on the reform
movement. When he was elected to the post in October 1999, Gus
Dur, as the former president is popularly called, had impeccable
credentials that led many to sincerely believe he was the right
person to lead the nation in the campaign to build a civil
society.
In contrast, while Megawati Soekarnoputri is not an
antireformist, many feel uneasy at her reliance on the New Order
forces, Golkar and the Indonesian Military (TNI) in particular,
in her ascent to power, including in removing Gus Dur last week.
Gus Dur and his supporters believe that Megawati has dispensed
too many IOUs, particularly to the New Order elements, and by
doing so can hardly be expected to implement the political, legal
and economic reforms that this country badly needs to get back on
its feet.
It remains to be seen how much of this prophecy will come
true, or whether this is simply a prediction from a bitter,
unseated president. Now that Megawati has been elected through a
democratic process, we should give her the chance to prove that
she has the vision and courage to implement the necessary
reforms.
On the other hand, we should not overstate Gus Dur's
contribution to the reform campaign either. The near-blind former
president made his mark early in his presidency, particularly
when he replaced almost the entire leadership of the TNI. But
beyond this, he did very little in advancing the reform agenda
for a civil society in the 21 months he was in power.
In fact, he spent the last 12 months of his presidency fending
off an impeachment attempt, at the expense of the national reform
agenda. He backtracked on his reform commitments at times such as
when he allowed the TNI to return to Aceh to quell a rebellion,
having earlier launched peace talks with the rebels, in his
attempt to appease the military and win its political support.
Gus Dur even violated the sacred principle of democracy, the
very cause he initially fought for, when he issued an edict to
dissolve the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). As imperfect
as the MPR may be, and as undesirable as some of its members
perhaps are, it is still a democratically elected institution and
should thus be respected. In any campaign for democratic reform,
the means can never justify the end, unless one is advocating a
revolution.
Since the real reform agenda was effectively dropped by Gus
Dur when he became embroiled in the power struggle these past 12
months, it became irrelevant whether he remained in charge or
not. All we can say is that with his departure, the non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) that championed democracy no
longer have a sympathetic ear, for, before coming to power, Gus
Dur was one of their prominent leaders.
Gus Dur's departure could, in the end, be a blessing in
disguise because the NGOs can now fight for their cause and
agenda far more effectively than before by keeping a safe
distance from those in power. By their own definition, NGOs must
fight their battles from outside the government and never from
inside it. With Gus Dur out of the presidential palace, they can
now afford to be more vocal in voicing their aspirations.
But they must never fight from outside the political system.
If the system is flawed, then the first agenda for the reformist
camp should be changing the system itself, that is by fighting to
amend or even replace the Constitution for one that is more
amenable to the promotion of democracy and a civil society.
In conclusion, with or without Gus Dur in charge, Indonesia is
nowhere near the civil society that many people in this nation
aspired to when they joined in the reform movement in 1998. There
is still a long way to go yet. Rather than engaging in a
fruitless debate about where the movement is heading now that Gus
Dur is out of the loop, it would be far better if we all renewed
our commitment to fight even harder to achieve that civil
society.