Wiranto's candidacy revives specter of Soeharto

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Cambridge, Massachusetts

First Golkar won the April 5 general election. Now, the political machinery that kept dictator Soeharto in power for over 32 years has named Gen. (ret) Wiranto, one of Soeharto's protege, its candidate for the presidential election in July.

Barely six years since he bowed to popular demand for his resignation, Soeharto, or certainly his specter, is returning to the political scene. At the age of 83, Soeharto may not be making a physical comeback, but there is no doubt that his ideas of power management, his ruthless style of government, his loyal followers -- not to mention his family's money -- are having a big impact on this year's elections.

A victory for Wiranto in July (or in the runoff in September) -- now a possible prospect given Golkar's victory in April -- would make the picture of a "comeback" complete.

A return to the Soeharto era of government, with the emphasis on security, stability and orderliness, and the promise of economic growth and development that ensued, has been a theme that Golkar widely touted in its campaign.

Not coincidentally, it is also the theme which Wiranto, more than any other presidential hopeful in Golkar, used effectively in his campaign to clinch last week's nomination.

On the day Soeharto abruptly quit the presidency in May 1998, Wiranto in his capacity as chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) made the famous statement that he was taking on the extra duty to protect the former president and his dignity. Later on, he disclosed to friends that Soeharto offered him the chance to take over the presidency under an emergency presidential decree, but that he turned it down, and persuaded the president instead to allow vice president BJ Habibie to succeed, as mandated by the Constitution.

Wiranto continued to serve under president Habibie and briefly served in president Abdurrahman Wahid's cabinet, as chief security minister, before he was fired in February 2000 and fully retired from public life.

His return to public life, this time as a Golkar politician, is seen as part of a bigger campaign to help restore the image and reputation of Soeharto. Soehartoism has become a hot political commodity.

But it is a one-sided, somewhat distorted picture of the former dictator that has come to the surface. We only get glimpses of the stability, security and orderliness -- and the ensuing economic growth and development -- that Soeharto brought during his rule.

There is another side, an ugly side, to Soeharto's rule that is rarely discussed, except within small circles. The Soeharto regime was also known as corrupt, intolerant, ruthless, and abusive. The regime delivered the economic goods, but at a huge cost: For most of us, the cost was our freedom -- the even less fortunate paid with their lives.

The bad legacy of the Soeharto era is still here for all to see. Our present state of economic affairs must be attributed to the huge national debt that he left in his wake, thanks to 32 years of mismanagement and corruption, particularly by his children and cronies.

Yet, corruption is probably the one area that the succeeding regimes failed to deal with effectively. In the six years since his resignation, only a handful of corruptors were convicted. Most of the children and cronies of Soeharto continue to enjoy their ill-gotten wealth, and even remain in control of their businesses today. It's as if Soeharto gave up his crown in 1998 but he -- or rather his children and cronies -- have kept the jewel.

The new regimes not only failed to chase past corruptors, they themselves used their newfound power to engage in some corrupt practices. Not surprisingly, Golkar and Wiranto in their campaigns are now targeting today's corruptors, giving the impression that they have taken the initiative to fight graft.

But it is on the economy that those using the name and reputation of Soeharto have campaigned most effectively. The low economic growth rates the country has seen in these last six years pale to Soeharto's golden years of the 1980s and 1990s. The economy was growing so rapidly then that it "overheated" every few years.

Golkar in its campaign succeeded in turning people's attention to basic economic and social issues such as food on the table, job opportunities, education for the children, and access to health care. It required little imagination for ordinary people to conclude that, economically, things were indeed so much better 10 years ago than today.

Should we therefore be concerned at the prospect of Soehartoism making a comeback in Indonesia?

Yes and no.

We do not need to be overly concerned because, even if it did make a comeback, the process would be democratic. As imperfect as the political process may be, it has been widely accepted by the people that there is no way we can denounce the outcome of this democratic election.

Even if the Soehartoists were returned to power, they would find themselves returning to a different Indonesia.

For one, the political system has undergone a massive transformation in the last six years, chiefly through a series of constitutional amendments that restored the balance of power of the executive branch vis-a-vis the legislative and judiciary branches.

Secondly, the Soehartoists won the election in a multi-party system. Golkar, for example, only won about a fifth of the votes in the April election, and will probably come away with between a quarter to a third of the seats in the House of Representatives. In flexing its muscles, Golkar will be subject to much greater checks and balances compared to when it controlled up to 80 percent or more of the seats in the House during the Soeharto years.

Finally, there is civil society, which quietly developed over the past six years and filled in some of the vacuums left by the struggling government. The relatively strong civil society will provide further checks and balances on the power of the ruling party or the president.

Some precautions, however, are in order.

No matter how much they claim to have changed, the only clues we have if Golkar is returned to power, or if Wiranto is elected president, is their past performances. And when it comes to such questions as human rights, fighting corruption, respecting liberties and freedoms, respecting differences and upholding the rule of law, their track records leave a lot to be desired.

They have in them tyrannical traits, and given the chance, would probably not hesitate to resort to power to get what they want. And they would cite their election victory as the mandate given by the people to do what they thought was necessary.

One thing that the specter of Soeharto should teach us is caution. Let's respect the democratic process and the outcome -- even if it is not the desired outcome. Let us also be wary. Democracy, in itself, is insufficient to prevent Indonesia from falling once again under the rule of a dictator.

There is no cause for alarm just yet, but there is a strong reason for caution.

The writer, the The Jakarta Post's Deputy Chief Editor, is currently studying at Harvard University under fellowships provided by the Nieman Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Asia Foundation.