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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A Message to Our Arrogant Leaders: We Are Not the Problem, You Are

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A Message to Our Arrogant Leaders: We Are Not the Problem, You Are
Yohanes Sulaiman | May 08, 2012

'The government needs to start listening to what people want, to the concerns of the people on the street.'

In late April, Indonesian students and Islamic representatives in Germany criticized lawmakers who visited the country ostensibly to determine whether the embassy needed renovating. The students called the Indonesian lawmakers “village bumpkins” and said the trip was a waste of money and an excuse for a vacation.

In Lampung last week, thousands of locals tore down and decapitated a statue of former Governor Zainal Abidin, in a style reminiscent of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Iraq in 2003 in the aftermath of the US invasion. The move followed months of fruitless discussions over whether the statue should be taken down, as residents saw it as a monument to corruption.

The two cases have a common element: So-called leaders believe they know best, and think ordinary folk are ignorant and just get in the way.

They think if they ram their ideas down the throats of the public long enough they will acquiesce. Official reaction to the events were predictably dismissive, with claims that the people were “oknum” (p rovocateurs who did not understand the big picture).

After the criticism in Germany, Yoris Raweyai, one of the visiting House commission members, said the students had acted “unethically.” The speaker of the House, Marzuki Alie, put the whole affair down to a “miscommunication.”

It was not mentioned that the students in question had monitored the commission’s movements and found they spent much of their time at leisure, at the expense of the taxpayer.

Nobody mentioned that evaluating embassy renovation needs is the job of the Foreign Ministry. The House holds the purse strings and should act as a watchdog to prevent waste. But this frivolous excursion has cast its moral authority on such matters into serious doubt once more.

Surely, the House members should have taken on board the humiliation suffered last year when students grilled lawmakers who were visiting Australia and found them similarly underprepared.

In Lampung, the governor, district head and their supporters said Zainal Abidin was worthy of the 10-meter-high statue, and it was the protesters’ lack of understanding that was the problem. The statue was legitimate, they said, because it had been approved by the regional legislative chamber.

Lampung has been consumed by conflicts over land as plantation companies have bought licenses issued by local authorities for land claimed under customary laws. Several companies have used private militia and the police to intimidate people and throw them off their land. Protesters felt that the statue smacked of nepotism and dynasty-building, as the current governor of Lampung and the district head of the area where the statue was erected are the son and grandson of Zainal Abidin, respectively. The Rp 1.3 billion ($140,000) would have been better used to alleviate poverty rather than glorifying a dynasty, they said.

People were fed up with business as usual and the arrogance of “leaders” and decided to publicly humiliate them. Leaders would be foolish to think that they can continue to tell the public what to do and expect people to fall meekly into line.

The government has to start building its case based upon facts and strong ideas at a time when the income gap between the rich and poor in Indonesia is growing. The government needs to start listening to what people want, to the concerns of the people on the street.

Anything that the government cannot justify should go. Indonesians continue to show they are increasingly willing to take to the street to show the government up.

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serenityjam

9:43am May 8, 2012

I would say the problem is the system. Arrogance in SOME of our government officials has taken shape as they justify their extravagance to the assumption that "benefits (or perks) go with the position (job)."

It is similar to an abusive manager in a private enterprise who assumes that he or she can act like a master and can demand anything. It is the system.

Therefore, we have to amend the system from an "open-ended" mechanism for government leaders to do what they think they are permitted to do to a "well-defined" self-regulating mechanism.

For instance, leaders traveling abroad must submit a checklist of things to be done. Upon their return,they have to present a report of things accomplished. This report must be signed by every member and posted in government website and printed in major daily newspapers.

Citizens will be able to judge if the trip was valid or not. I think next time they will be careful in asking for funds to travel again.

LJS

9:46am May 8, 2012

Can not agree more. Shame on you corrupted lawmakers

zerodiversity

9:54am May 8, 2012

House members are arrogant, greedy, incompetent and full of excuses. But we, the people, are also at fault because we are the ones who choose these so called leaders. Votes could be easily "bought" and money politics always prevail. Until the system is changed or people starting to be more aware and more educated, the same situation will continue regardless of the great efforts by a handful of people.

LadyBuggers

10:01am May 8, 2012

Why is this statue-building business reminds me of Russia and their mania to build statues of their leaders? Are we somehow turning into Russia??? I thought they wanted to turn Indonesia into Indonistan? And where's FPI when you need them to tear down a statue?? Oh, yes, they're too busy chasing innocent citizens who happen to have 'disagreable' and 'deviant' views, including wanting to watch Lady Gaga. O, silly me

jchay

10:11am May 8, 2012

I would say the problem with Indonesia is character and enforcement.

While government officials in other country (like Japan, Korea) are willing to apologize and resign when they are not performing or got into scandals, the Indonesian officials are instead openly rejecting their faults and insisting to stay in office with salary paid by our hard-earned tax paying money. There is no honor and value in their character.

As for enforcement, it is close to non-existence in Indonesia.. some even can bend the law and make them impune from punishment.


Uncle JC

10:18am May 8, 2012

A very well written article. Would love to see a photo of the statue. Thanks Yohanes!



chantlove

10:21am May 8, 2012

Where do we "rakyat Indonesia" start to fix this? For myself i can only start by influencing people around me neighbours, friends, colleagues, to say no to bribery for votes (for example). The thing is these leaders get up there using money, so they think the period when they're in-charge is the time when they should "reap what they sow" and using whatever ways to gain more than they spent to get there in the first place. Same case with getting job as PNS (Pegawai Negeri Sipil), it's so deep rooted and a sad state all along. Again as an ordinary people, i can only instill my values to my child, that my idealism cannot be bought, that we have to be ethical even when going about our daily lives.


DrDez

10:28am May 8, 2012

But what about Malaysia and Singapore and the sunset nations????



Roland

10:28am May 8, 2012

WebEd- Paragraph 5

"The SEAKER of the House, Marzuki..."

Shouldn't it be rather 'SPEAKER', or is it an intended "typo", meant to be leaning on Parsifal, the seeker of the Holy Grail?

Great article BTW, as usual from Mr. Yohanes Sulaiman.

To call the students in Germany "unethical" is one of these typical "we don't let us squeeze into a defensive position - we are biting back the hand that feeds us" attitude of politicians. How can a politician even dare to call the public "unethical" while they are acting on a permanent base as such (just look into the daily news). Nasty people (with a few noticeable exceptions).


Cupid.Stunt

10:34am May 8, 2012

More accountability, transparency and honesty required.

Impunity, arrogance, apathy, denial, deceit, lip-service-only, and the ‘I’m above the Law’ attitude need to be eliminated from public life in this country.

Do this, and maybe Indonesia can start to address the real issues of corruption, law & order, education, infrastructure, health and religious harmony, etc.

This story is a good start, the first step AWAY from the abyss.


foreigner94

10:57am May 8, 2012

People have the right to complain and to demand that the public money , spent in such cases , be returned to the government .

.Regarding travel to foreigner countries , I saw many engineers (public servants) wanting to travel abroad because of the very high money they received for the expenses . Almost 20 years ago , as I heard , each engineer received US$300 per day , to cover hotel , food , and other expenses . At that time this amount of money was equivalent to their monthly salary , so traveling abroad was the first priority for them . And , in my opinion , to do nothing relevant in those trips .

Yohanes-Sulaiman

1:30pm May 8, 2012

For people who asked what's the statue looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDUU81SAy4 and http://www.tribunnews.com/2012/05/01/foto-foto-warga-robohkan-patung-zainal-abidin-pagaralam. In the original version of this article, I did wore that this really resembled Iraq in 2003.

anon.everywhere

2:08pm May 8, 2012

A much better contributor than that fluff Desi Anwar


Bataviaforever

2:50pm May 8, 2012

I lived in Brussels for a while.

There I got to know brilliant Indonesian students who were there for a post-graduate.

As the event was co-hosted by the embassy, I asked the students what kind of support they received from the embassy.

The answer; "none whatsoever"...

rf2102

3:31pm May 8, 2012

@Bataviaforever : I still live in Brussels and yes, the Embassy here as well as other Indonesian embassies in Europe are the same. They do nothing to support the students. All they do is spend money, for example, making bogus events far away, meetings etc so that all the diplomats involved get their daily SPJ or allowance.

Other ways to get "pocket money" is to play with their housing allowance, e.g finding houses/apartments with 1000 euros rent and reporting it to the office a, pocketing the difference, and then there is the issue of "uang representasi" or that fund they claim to use for "lobbying" but in fact many of these "lobbies" are also bogus.

So many other practices like this going on in Indonesian Embassies worldwide, and when students/Indonesians living overseas ask for support, they get nothing.

jetset24

5:50am May 9, 2012

foreigner94-twenty years was a different mindset. People were more serious in their work and dedication to learn. Today the landscape is blurred adding with Islamic radicals who believed that the sinful direction of this country should be washed away with violence.

Furthermore you hear gossips of Indonesian celebrities rubbing shoulder to shoulder with Islamic guidance imams or what have you. Do you hear of Hollywood celebrities chumming with Christian spiritual leaders...Do you? C'est vraiment trop drole, non?

utu.minut

6:31am May 9, 2012

Education is the solution my friends, start teaching our kids about values, instead of high grades.. Honesty, instead of cheating..

bulebule

6:47am May 9, 2012

batavia4E: embassies cater to foreigners. Citizens go to their consulates for help.

dimsumcapcay

8:54am May 9, 2012

@jetset24, C'est vraiment drĂ´le...

Pity the nation.


Dez
9:19am May 9, 2012

utu... yes






Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Tale of Bekasi’s Lolita Teaches All the Wrong Lessons About Abuses of Power



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The Tale of Bekasi’s Lolita Teaches All the Wrong Lessons About Abuses of Power
Yohanes Sulaiman | April 27, 2012

'This incident shows fighting the system is like trying to change the direction of the wind.'
If people are wondering why many officials act like petty tyrants, they need to look no further than recent scandals in Indonesia’s education system.

The media has been putting a spotlight on inappropriate materials found in a school textbook, but even more disturbingly, it was revealed last week that a school principal in Bekasi had expelled a student in the middle of her national final examination, preventing her from graduating and jeopardizing her future.

The reasons for her expulsion should give everyone pause for thought (and producers of movies and soap operas some golden material). The principal said the student was a home-wrecker who had seduced him and that, once rebuffed, she had bad-mouthed him through social media. The student, however, claimed that the principal had been wooing her with favorable treatment and gifts such as cellphones, causing her classmates to resent her.

Of course, the fact that this 17-year-old girl from Sukabumi, West Java, was a star student at the school served as icing on the cake. Some had been questioning whether she was truly a good student or whether she had received her high grades inappropriately.

At one point she took to social media to vent, using discourteous words to express her frustration at being treated contemptuously by her classmates. When the principal saw this, he felt slighted and was outraged.

Once she had been expelled, local journalists and the Department of Education learned that she is an orphan, creating so much public outrage and pressure that she was allowed to sit her examination elsewhere.

Regardless of who is in fault, whether the principal is a lecherous old man or the girl is a young seducer, this case should raise many red flags about the pair’s relationship and the abuse of power. In fact, if this had happened in the United States, I think many heads would have rolled. But not here.

Even without the inappropriate mock-adultery story, which elementary students read and which has led to public outrage, it seems likely that students at this Bekasi school will take away many bad lessons from the incident.

First, they will learn that people in power can do anything they like. The fact is that holding a high position allowed the principal to expel the student without any due process, without giving her a chance to defend herself and without any input from other educators. She was simply informed at the end of the first examination day that she had been expelled.

While one could argue that her statement on social media was grave enough to warrant expulsion, she should still be entitled to a just and fair hearing, which would have allowed her to defend herself. But nobody at the school or the Education and Culture Ministry seemed to care that she had been denied her right to just and fair treatment, not to mention her right to an education, or that her future had been jeopardized.

The second lesson is that holding a high position gives people freedom from criticism. It is mind-boggling that this incident even happened in the first place. Apparently no adult on the school grounds considered this relationship between a married man and an underage girl to be inappropriate. And everyone seemed to know that something was going on, because the relationship, which created so many conflicts of interests at the school, had become quite a hot topic among the girl’s peers.

It is possible to make two conjectures from this case of the “dog that does not bark.” Either the teachers were so grossly incompetent that none of them realized what was going on or, even worse, were not bothered at all by the relationship, or a code of silence gave them an incentive to keep quiet for fear of jeopardizing their careers.

The third takeaway is that life will go on, at least for the person in power. Nothing bad seemed to happen to the principal’s career, though it is unknown whether his marriage has been adversely affected. The student, on the other hand, was traumatized, forced to take her national examination elsewhere and deprived of any recourse against the school’s arbitrary decision.

At the end of the day, this incident has shown students at the school that fighting the system is like trying to change the direction of the wind: You will lose. Thus the moral of the story is to simply obey your superiors, doing whatever they want to ensure that things don’t get hairy. Then, when students graduate and their turn for power comes, they can do whatever they like while they’re on top of the food chain.

The problem with Indonesian education, or rather with some officials within the educational bureaucracy, is a lack of focus on students’ needs and a tendency to prioritize outward appearances.

Consider the case of one education official in East Java who had a foot-in-mouth moment when he callously suggested that pregnant students should not be allowed to take the national examination. His statement caused such an outrage that he was forced to qualify it, explaining that he was expressing his personal opinion and not an order.

Like the principal in Bekasi, this official apparently never thought twice or felt a pang of guilt at the prospect of ruining the future of some students or, in the worst case scenario of a student being pregnant because she has been raped, of victimizing someone for a second time.

With such a callous view to the future of students, it is no wonder that youths often fail to absorb their academic lessons and instead learn other lessons about how to abuse power and act thoughtlessly as an official, and about how evaluations and grades may ultimately depend on the subjective opinions and whims of bureaucrats.

These lessons are much worse than the inappropriate materials found in a textbook. It’s no wonder that some people end up as petty tyrants.
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devine

8:04pm Apr 27, 2012


Thanks Bpk Sulaiman for spelling it out...


Sceptic

10:52pm Apr 27, 2012


Sulaiman for President!!!!!!


jchay

11:17pm Apr 27, 2012


Same with the well known OKB (orang kaya baru) syndrom, many with power also have similar syndrom called OPB (orang penguasa baru).. No wonder it is so "kampung".

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Indonesia Needs to Exorcise the Ghosts Of Sukarno and Suharto to Move On

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Indonesia Needs to Exorcise the Ghosts Of Sukarno and Suharto to Move On
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | April 13, 2012

All this sounds like modern Indonesia has only learned to commit the same mistakes of the past.’

There has been a growing number of calls to rehabilitate the good names of Sukarno and Suharto. We’ve been told it’s all in the name of national reconciliation and a desire to move on. Yet at the same time, reconciliation is one of those political buzzwords that ironically has the ability to divide people. One wonders whether politicians know what they mean when they use it.

For all its positive overtones of forgiveness and moving on to a better future, reconciliation is to do with the memory of past history and a sober judgment on a nation. In essence, one cannot have reconciliation, or forgiveness of past errors, without a serious attempt to open up the nation’s history; trying as objectively as possible to evaluate the past without keeping dark events hidden or presenting a politicized version of the nation’s past in an attempt to legitimize contemporary political agendas.

Reading back into the past and forcing onto it the agendas of contemporary interest groups is a common pitfall across the ages. It is always an indication of a false familiarity that serves neither historical truth nor the contemporary desire to make sense of the past.

Only by recognizing that Sukarno and Suharto are no longer our contemporaries can we hope to see them more clearly, and in doing so, ourselves.

It is fair to say both Sukarno and Suharto had a disproportionate influence on the history of modern Indonesia, and remain larger-than-life characters.

In President Sukarno, many people found a great nationalist, someone who put Indonesia on the pedestal of international recognition, whose rhetoric was unmatched and who united a fractious Indonesia under the banner of nationalism, religion and, controversially, an Indonesian form of communism.

He led a collection of serfs — a former colony — into a great nation, making world leaders in London, The Hague, Moscow, Beijing and Washington look on in awe. He was a man not easily dismissed, neither here nor abroad.

However he did eventually bring the country to the brink of ruin. There was also gross economic mismanagement, leading to shortages of basic daily necessities and, eventually, the collapse of the national economy.

Sukarno presided over the dismantling of Indonesia’s fledgling democracy and imprisoned many of his political opponents, such as Sutan Sjahrir, Sjafruddin Prawiranegara and Mohammad Natsir. Under his reign, the formerly professional and independent civil service created by the Dutch was politicized. Under Sukarno, public servants had to support the government’s party or they were fired.

He also weakened the independence of the Indonesian judiciary and demoralized judges so much that the effects of that intimidation remain even to this day. In all this, he laid the foundations of the New Order authoritarianism under Suharto.

President Suharto’s regime, by comparison, was seen as subdued and sober, lacking the flashes, gongs and antics of Sukarno. Nevertheless, Suharto restored the economy, laid the foundations for today’s economic boom and Indonesia’s emergence as a country of determining influence for Southeast Asia and its neighbors further afield such as Australia, China and India.

At the same time, there are sufficient historical records to indicate he was a corrupt and ruthless autocrat, implicated, along with others, in the murder of possibly hundreds of thousands of his fellow Indonesians. He amassed a fortune, despoiling the public purse on a staggering scale. And the illicit funds still remain largely in the hands of his family and cronies, with only moderately successful and concentrated efforts taken to retrieve them.

When he resigned, on May 21, 1998, Suharto publicly apologized for his mistakes. His resignation came close on the heels of many deaths and disappearances during the student protests that led to his downfall. His coming to power was accompanied by bloodshed and his ignominious ending likewise. He seemed wedded to conflict and left behind a nation that continues to be embroiled in divisions and outbreaks of violence.

One wonders what was going through Suharto’s mind, if anything, when he referred to his “mistakes” — a mild enough word that implies not only the need for an apology, but also the necessity of backing up the apology with deeds that give the apology credence and value. It is one thing to say you are sorry; it is another to walk away after having plundered the country and keeping what you took.

Of course, Suharto denied ever having been corrupt. Before he died, referring to attempts to regain state funds from him, he said, “It’s all empty talk. Let them accuse me. The fact is that I have never committed corruption.”

At the same time, not everyone’s hands are clean. The communists, the early victims of Suharto’s authoritarian regime, had reason to be contrite.

For years they terrorized whoever they perceived to be political opponents, creating such a culture of fear that when the communists were blamed for the failed September 30 coup in 1965, their erstwhile “victims,” such as Nahdlatul Ulama’s youth movement, Ansor, saw the murders of the generals as the first move in apocalyptic warfare. They then launched pre-emptive attacks, massacring the communists and their alleged sympathizers in Central and Eastern Java and Bali, with the tacit blessing of the military.

Today, the sum of these events, their meaning and impact remain unresolved and Indonesians disagree how to recall, analyze, understand and learn from them. The dark past is simply too painful to recall, and too politically sensitive, and thus the recent calls for reconciliation and rehabilitation sound like a good step toward addressing this problem.

Still, it is doubtful that this kind of reconciliation is what the politicians have in mind. Rather, it seems that their goals tend more toward whitewashing history, forgetting the troubled and traumatic past by burying everything under buzzwords like rehabilitation, and hoping that everything will be swept away by the sands of time.

In the meantime, they can use the larger-than-life figures of both Sukarno and Suharto to attract voters during the upcoming elections.

All this sounds like a continuation of past attitudes. All this sounds like contemporary Indonesia has only learned how to commit the same mistakes of the past rather than renounce them. It hardly sounds like reconciliation, remorse or restitution — but business as usual.

And this would indicate that the reconciliation some are proposing is nothing more than an attempt to legitimize what was unacceptable then and is unacceptable now.

Therefore, maybe it is better to rephrase the question. What kind of truth and reconciliation process does Indonesia need? 


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SirAnthonyKnown-Bender

4:22pm Apr 13, 2012


It's called "TRUTH and reconciliation". Without the former you don't get the latter, just the usual specious Javanese consensus that masks a sea of injustice. Indonesian figures with the honesty of a Desmond Tutu don't make it to the top table. I well remember about a decade ago some proposal to form an Indonesian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The generals said, "Well we can't have the word 'truth', just make it a reconciliation commission only." Farcical. It would be hilarious in fact if so much spilt blood hadn't been airbrushed out of official history. If there was justice in this country after 1998's failed "people power revolution" (which left 90% of the New Order regime in tact - the very fact that Golkar still exist shows the manifest failure of any meaningful "reformasi")then certain people would be in jail instead of standing for elections and invoking mass-murdering tyrants as national heroes. Use your vote wisely in 2014 Indonesians: golput, and organize yourselves.

jchay

4:40pm Apr 13, 2012

Yes, I agree without truth there won't be any reconciliation. However, how will we end up with the real truth, when nobody even respects the truth or whoever has the truth but instead hide behind pretty lies and denial mentality? Truth is not part of our identity, it is too cheap to fight for. So here we are again without truth, and therefore no reconciliation.

lightenup

10:05pm Apr 13, 2012

I agree with SirAnthony here. Reconciliation and pardoning someone cannot be fulfilled without presenting nothing but the truth about the person. Face it, but even some parts which the writer here wrote regarding Sukarno's and Suharto's so-called 'national sins' are contestable at best. Well, I know that no humans are perfect, but that doesn't mean that they don't deserve to be known based on truth only.

22roles

10:26pm Apr 13, 2012

Statistics. The ‘‘impartial’’ evidence — the convincer — that backs every discussion. The creative use of which can make any position defensible, every argument rational.

The method is simple.

Start with a premise or ideology. Find some stats that fit it. Ignore those that don’t. Twist their interpretation until they become convenient, if needs be. Don’t worry about context or perspective. Fling out the whole mess in the hope that the message sticks.

DrDez

6:10am Apr 14, 2012

yes 22 thats what you do all the time.. except often you leave out the statistics

PS - that's another theft of an article directly lifted without acknowledgment from The Canberra Times - YOU really must troll the world and there is only one kind of person who does that... Link to your latest theft

http://canberratimes.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/blogs/domain-investor-centre-blog/numberwang-or-lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-20120412-1wvfk.html


Yohanes-Sulaiman

3:01pm Apr 14, 2012

@lightenup: care to enlighten me which part(s) are contestable? I would love to know. I rely on several sources, notably a great work by Sebastiaan Pompe on the Indonesian Supreme Court (http://www.amazon.com/The-Indonesian-Supreme-Court-Institutional/dp/0877277389) and as usual, books by Kahin and Dan Lev that describes the collapse of Indonesian democracy in 1950s.

@all: Still, the point here is to encourage the debate, that to try to demystify these two undoubtedly great people of Indonesian history, trying to look at history objectively. It is true that truth is also in the eyes of beholders, but I do think that it is still possible to have a measured academic debate on these matters.

enakajah

3:43pm Apr 14, 2012

Many people here lived through a great deal of the Suharto days. I know I did and I have a very different view from a couple of posters here. Mine being a great deal more positive having been involved directly in a great many of the infrastructure projects that built what we have today.

I also have done some very in depth and detailed investigations on the financial side of both Sukarno and Suharto. It has taken nearly 15 years to get to a position where the confusion and much of the actual facts are coming together.

Undoubtedly both men were titans. Undoubtedly both men had vast failings. But look at the context. More than 350 years of colonial rule. A devastating war and occupation by the Japanese. A vast nation of agrarian virtual slaves to be rendered into a modern nation over night.

In the 60 odd years since then look around and see what has been done in such a short time.

No excuses or apologies for some of the atrocities, just another - "truth".

Good article - provocative


padt

4:40pm Apr 14, 2012

enakajah - as you say - the purpose of this article was to provoke thought - thinking - discussion - calm and lucid investigation and to raise questions that need to be answered because the questions are hanging in the air and are simply not going to go away.

That's the issue - the questions are not going away. Sooner or later they must be answered.

Glad you found the article helpful in this regard. It's an important and sensitive topic. That's why we raised it.

22roles

8:37pm Apr 14, 2012

For those anti indonesia whingers and lack of achievements , indonesia is doing ok, sky is nowhere near falling in.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Indonesia has the best performing economy in the region.

No, I didn't.

But like I said, Indonesia has the best performing economy in the region or maybe in the world..statisticly i ain't pretender that claims know everything about economy,bordering a con,specially about singapore economy.Stasticly, the courts in singapore are there to maintain democracy not to undermine it but is it really the case? statisticly i can say it is the case in MALAYSIA the courts are there to UNDERMINE democracy.
enakajah

9:43pm Apr 14, 2012

I am not so sure that all the questions do need to be raised and/or answered. Acceptance of the fact that the nation has grown and is on a track paved by the positive achievements of these two men is perhaps enough.

Many will say the atrocities must be answered. More will say that vast amounts of money were plundered and is sifting through the families and cronies and must be returned.

Time heals all and in time this country's scars will heal and in the end it was the massive efforts of both these men that laid the foundation and that is never easy nor clean.

Imagine if the country had been passed over to lesser men at the end of the war. Imagine if the Country had been handed those we have had since '98 but in '48. The time required men of vision and cruel strength. Not the perverted sheep we have today. But then again I am probably completely wrong.... times and priorities have changed.

I have family that were personally associated with and very close to Sukarno. There are some astonishingly far reaching actions that he put in place that account for a number of spectacularly successful results that are still relevant today.

Also during the war the wealth of Europe was being plundered by the Nazi's. The decision was made collectively to move much of it to a Dutch colony that was deemed safe in S.E. Asia. So it was moved physically to Indonesia and into the Javasche Bank accounts in UBS Zurich. In 1965 when Sukarno stood up and declared Indonesia as a sovereign nation, with sovereign laws he also declared all assets held in the name of Indonesia and in its territories belonged to Indonesia. Vast wealth instantly nationalized.

There are many things that are behind the scenes that history does not record. And many it does that are apparent "Truth" but may not be. Victors always get to write the history.

blightyboy

9:14am Apr 15, 2012

enakajah - do also look at what many nations have achieved over the past 60 years. After the second World war many countries were in tatters, bankrupt and broken. Look around and compare. Indonesia cannot

PakLiam

10:11am Apr 15, 2012

Yes, 22, that paragraph is more like your usual writing, rather than the plagiarised piece that DrDez called you on.

padt

10:20am Apr 15, 2012

enakajah, your attitude of whitewashing the past because your family benefited from it is what will make the atrocities and theft of the past a present and future reality.

The greatness of a countrty and it's leaders is not marked only by its economic growth - especally an economic growth that does not flow on to the majority of its citizens but only a few.

The greateness of a country and its leaders is how they treat the most vulnerable. And in this, Indonesia is decidedly lacking.

I dont believe what you are saying. You are making excuses.

All the questions do need to be raised and do need to be answered.

Its people who share your mentality who are standing in the way of the real progress Indonesia needs - a development in human rights, clean government, accountable government and the accompanying change in mentality required to achieve that.

Your comments make for sad and disturbing reading. They indicate to me a mentality does not respect basic human dignity and equality.

enakajah

10:56am Apr 15, 2012

BB certainly the whole of Europe was in tatters and totally destroyed, as was Japan but how many of the nations had been colonized for 350 years before that and almost completely agrarian without industry?

Perhaps I was not being clear. I agree entirely that we cannot blame today on yesterday rather, despite yesterday the country has achieved an enormous amount. As have others in 60 years. This is why I am not sure that questions posed in this article need to be raised and/or answered.

Or perhaps you were responding to my first post as the second and third took some time to get posted due to the weekend.

In the end BB I agree . A lot has been achieved in 60 years in many countries and Indonesia is one of them and as I think I said clearly, I have a more positive view of the two men's achievements and do not not necessarily agree with the writers for exactly the reasons you have mentioned. Look forward not back.

enakajah
11:11am Apr 15, 2012

Perhaps off topic but relevant to my position, an idea may be to read the book called "the Conquest of Java". It is an account of what the British found when they arrived here to fight the French, who briefly took over when they colonized Holland.

It goes into excruciating detail of how the VOC ran the entire country as a production house with little or no interest in anything other than extracting the maximum profit for the leaste investment. Very little changed between that time to when the VOC returned and the second world war.

After the war the country had to recover from the devastation and at the same time try to catch up on the rest of the world in an industrial manner and deal with Independence after so long without any control or people educated or experienced in running a country.

Vastly different from others devastated by the war and the success to date is speaks for itself. That is not blaming the past but a credit to the successes despite it.


DrDez

1:24pm Apr 15, 2012

22... The best performing economy and yet 100 million in poverty... well done


22roles

2:27pm Apr 15, 2012

Explain to me how you calculate poverty ? Don't quote here n there, i want direct from your understanding.

DrDez

3:10pm Apr 15, 2012

100 m 22 - do your own research

22roles

3:43pm Apr 15, 2012

Didn't u understand when I said don't quote, I want ur understanding how u came up with that poverty numbers? Got that?

Comello

4:03pm Apr 15, 2012


@enakajah

In 1810, the VOC had been out of existence for more than 10 years due to its bankruptcy. So the VOC did not 'run' anything, did not 'return' to do so, and certainly had not run 'the whole country', as most of what is now Indonesia was still under indigenous rule - the '350 years..' Sukarno/Suharto meme is historical fiction and post-colonial propaganda necessary for nation-building.

Most colonies were run as cheap production house/consumer markets for home country products.

Ans as for 'almost completely agrarian without industry': which former colonies were thriving industries before independence?

I guess any invading nation can write disparaging books about their colonial competitors. What if British India, Caribbean sugar plantations, Autralia's East Coast or Zulu S-Africa were 'liberated' by the next European colonizer?

19th century colonialism and mercantilism before that were bad all around for the suppressed peoples, don't make Indonesia its 'special case' all the time.


Jubal.Harshaw

4:25pm Apr 15, 2012

@22 The number of poor in Indonesia is purely dependent on the government's chosen definition of poverty and includes the cash required to afford a diet of 2,100 calories a day, or 152,847 rupiah per month. No wonder the government can proudly boast that only 20% of people live in poverty.

A more widely used benchmark is 10,000 per day, which would put over 80 million Indonesians below the poverty line.

But of course, we all know that the real cost of living is even higher, and that puts Dr. Dez's estimate of 100 million a tad on the low side.

All this while elite thieves rob the country blind to feather their own nests, and if caught, get to keep their stolen millions.

Surely you can not continue to be so blind to the plight of your fellow countrymen, 22roles? Or maybe you can ...

DrDez

4:32pm Apr 15, 2012

$2 a day 22... I have posted a longer response but it seems to have gone astray

what do you understand by poverty???

madrotter

4:38pm Apr 15, 2012

The scum always rises to the top....



enakajah

4:52pm Apr 15, 2012


PADT, I did not say my family benefited in any way, I mentioned only that some of the actions Sukarno took in the early 50's and 60's have echoes still today.

Neither did I say the past should be whitewashed. I think you are trying to read into my position what is not there.

I merely do not necessarily agree that answering questions you pose are going to insure what I agree with you is necessary. Clean and transparent government, adherence to human rights and the dignity of the vulnerable.

I work in those specific fields and the most important manner in which to get all of those points instituted is progress and make changes in those institutions now and for the future.

Looking back and trying to get answers from people no longer involved does not necessarily install those absolutely necessary issues into a government system today.

Much of my professional career is spent working with civil society instituting your exact points. What do you do other than write or voice an opinion?

PADT, in order to institue the manner in which the country and it's leaders treat the vulnerable, one has to get inside and work on institutional strengthening and capacity building. These are areas I work in day to day. So rather than standing in the way I am actively working with a variety of donors and institutions to install those very changes you talk about.
To achieve anything the systems need to be altered forward looking. The past has happened. Now what is required is to change and in all the work I have done over the years, including involvement in truth and reconciliation councils, nothing systematic has been achieved by answering the questions you pose. The way to insure the protection of vulnerable, clean transparent government and all that you would hope for is to train, build capacity and work and make change happen.

I am sorry if you seem to think we have opposing views. I work to achieve exactly what you wish to see as well. Calling me a liar is not polite nor lucid.

padt

5:33pm Apr 15, 2012

enakajah - I apologise unreservedly for presuming your family personally benefited from the Sukarno regime. I misunderstood what you said, but that is no excuse.

I did not call you a liar.

I said I do not believe what you say. Just as one may say that to a person who holds certain beliefs or opinions that one disagrees with - I simply do not believe or hold them myself. That is not calling you a liar or accusing you of concealing the truth.

justapasserby

6:11pm Apr 15, 2012

Without sukarno we will be still a Dutch colony, albeit probably with some less negative sounding label, having potrait of Queen Wilhemina instead of SBY on the walls, and with most of the prestigious government and corporate position will stil be filled by white dutchmen.Without Suharto, we will still be a Communist country, probaby we will still have an aidit potrait on the wall today as an "External President".. and his son will be the current "Great Comrade".. cant we all be thankful for all of these and quit saying bad things about the dead?


enakajah

6:48pm Apr 15, 2012

Comello, Points taken. I slipped VOC in rather than putting the nationality in for the sake of being diplomatic. The agrarian side I was referring to BB's comment on the 60 years aspect. Prior to the War the nations that were destroyed were mainly European and industrialized before destruction. Indonesia was not. My point there is that the country has come a very long way and should be proud of it.

As to the British Colonies. You are absolutely correct. I agree but this still does not detract from the progress that this country has made in such a relatively short period of time. And since this article is about Indonesia why should I not make the case to emphasize the successes?

PADT apology accepted. I may also have over reacted to your saying you do not believe me. However had you worded it differently in the same posting perhaps I might not have gone off like a $2 rocket.

Comello, Regardless of the VOC being out of business, they did set up the systems and it is acknowledge that is was one of the most repressive. I suggest you buy the book. It is actually written by a reporter not an author published in sections over a period of time. It is really more of a reference book and the details are excruciating and immensely boring but it is clear insight into the situation that the country was left in at independence. But yes as I mentioned before Victors write the history and your points are well enough taken.

In the end I and I think all of us want the successes of this country viewed on a more positive light and dwell on those rather than always the negative. There are monumental problems of course but there have and are juts as monumental successes.


DrDez

7:06pm Apr 15, 2012

jpb - The excesses by both men should be recognized and criticized so we never fall again into the same trap, just ignoring them or making silly comments is I am afraid an Indonesian trademark.

I also dont recall RI being under communist rule BTW ..

22roles

7:42pm Apr 15, 2012

An ‘evidence base’ does not neccesarily lead to a scientific theory,it can lead to many conclusions.your logic fail for poverty, as my dog is white and my cat is white, therefore, my dog is my cat.

justapasserby

8:04pm Apr 15, 2012

we were about to be having our first communist majority parliament and communist government, had the PKI patiently wait for the next election and did not jump the gun with the 1965 coup. They were already the largest and the most organized political party at that time.

As for these recurring claims that Indonesia wasnt really colonized for 350 years, well that's just semantic argument by colonial supporters who would like to white wash their history. For example, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta was on paper an independent country right until 1945.. but in reality they had to ask for Dutch permission to increase the height of their palace wall!. Is this what you mean by independent native rulers? other example.. Ternate was "independent" as a protectorate of VOC.. but we all know what a protectorate imply. I find it quite weird that the Dutch are quick to condemn people who belittle their 4 years plight under germany but conveniently forget what they themself were doing in Indonesia.

Yohanes-Sulaiman

10:36am Apr 16, 2012

@JPB: No, there would not have been any next election, because that's what Sukarno and other Indonesian elites tried to avoid -- the victory of the PKI -- by having the Presidential Decree of 1959, which virtually suspended the democracy.

I don't have grudges against President Sukarno and Suharto -- in fact, I agree with most of Enakajah's points on Suharto's contributions. On Sukarno, I actually to some degree with your assertions of him playing a major role in Indonesian independence.

What I dislike is the fact that presently people tend to manipulate the history, whitewashing the errors of the past for present political gains without carefully study the errors of the past. History is not black and white, and to praise both Sukarno and Suharto uncritically will create this stupid cult of leaders not unlike North Korea or other Socialist/communist countries and that will bring down the country.

I agree, don't dwell too much on the past, but at the same time don't whitewash it.

Valkyrie

10:49am Apr 16, 2012

Gentlemen....

Thank you! I am enjoying the various intellectual and informative exchanges.

I remember well Shakespeare's Julius Caesar when Mark Antony made his speech at Caesar's funeral.

"Friends, Romans and countrymen ........

the evil that men do live after them, The good is interred with their bones."

I am especially referring to the two Ss.

padt

11:38am Apr 16, 2012

I put a question to commentators here.

It would be an understatement to say that Indonesians like to celebrate their superiority and victories whenever they have the chance. Just go to any football match and observe.

Question: Why don't Indonesians 'celebrate' the events of 1965/6 - the 'triumph' over the 'forces of evil' - why aren't these events - the deaths of opponents - whatever the number - heralded as epic events in a proud and open history? Why instead, when those events are mentioned, they are hushed up, avoided, the subject changed - and not talked about, let alone celebrated as a symbol of national pride - unless there is perhaps an element of shame, perhaps even guilt - certainly ambiguity - connected with them?

DrDez

11:52am Apr 16, 2012

padt - because when we cut all the crap it was a state sponsored genocide



22roles

2:00pm Apr 17, 2012

state sponsored genocide only to those can't see beyond the news or bordering a con

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

The President’s Failure at the Fuel Pump Made a Lame Duck Even Less Popular


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The President’s Failure at the Fuel Pump Made a Lame Duck Even Less Popular
Yohanes Sulaiman | April 04, 2012

'Yudhoyono’s political rivals smelled blood last week with the protests, and they moved to hit him hard.'


Has President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono become a lame duck? Many commentators think so. For months, several Indonesian media outlets, including the usually reserved Kompas, have splattered the term “autopilot” in their headlines and run opinion pieces about the president’s autopilot regime, as the government appears adrift and seems to have left the people to their own devices.

Last week when protests erupted against a proposed increase in the price of subsidized fuel, the government’s response only seemed to confirm Yudhoyono’s status as a lame duck. Many analysts have agreed that the Democratic Party was badly outmaneuvered by its political opponents, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party finishing ahead.

Looking back, Golkar politicians can claim they knew what they were doing, sensing the pulse of public opinion and acting to minimize the pain at the pump while brokering a deal to save the state’s budget. PDI-P lawmakers can also claim they took the interests of “small people” to heart by opposing the proposed fuel price increase.

The government and the Democratic Party, on the other hand, came off as out of touch by trying to force a painful price hike on already suffering people. At the same time, the party blundered its chance to implement the policy by failing to make a strong case for it.

It was amusing to watch how the government struggled to convey its message as the opposition accused it of being a slave to the interests of multinational companies and of hoodwinking the masses, since oil coming from inside Indonesia is essentially free.

Yudhoyono’s travels in China and South Korea during the week of crisis were also criticized, seen as a way to escape the turmoil back home instead of sticking around to convince his nation of the need for the price hike. These trips abroad reinforced his image as a weak and lackadaisical president.

So why did the government seem surprised by the critical reactions to its proposed fuel price increase? Because the policy has never before been politicized.

Blame for this politicking should land squarely on the Democratic Party’s own shoulders. In the last elections, in 2009, the party released campaign advertisements boasting that Yudhoyono’s government was the first that was able to reduce the price of fuel. Although the claim was widely criticized, it helped propel the party to the top in the legislative elections.



At the same time, however, the ads guaranteed that the party’s rivals would use any rise in fuel prices to hammer Yudhoyono and the Democrats.

As a result, although Tempo reported in January that PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri had asked the government to raise the price of subsidized fuel due to growing hostility between the United States and Iran, the PDI-P did not think twice about attacking the government to score political points last week. Golkar also squared off with the Democratic Party on the issue of direct cash assistance.

It seems the government expected a degree of grumbling about the unpopular policy but assumed that at the end of the day, everyone would fall back in line and agree.

Consequently, it was caught completely off guard by opposition rallies that erupted nationwide and degenerated into an orgy of violence. Unruly mobs of labor unionists and university students looted fuel stations and trucks, whose sole fault had been to unfortunately cross the mob’s path. Protesters ransacked buildings and caused massive traffic jams, and the threat of military intervention did little to keep the disgruntled masses at home.

Caught unprepared, the government had no choice but to capitulate, allowing Golkar and the PDI-P to declare victory. Without the political elite willing to politicize the fuel price increase, there would have been no massive rallies. Such was the political calculus to secure their positions for the 2014 legislative elections and to ensure that this time, the Democratic Party would share the fallout of the fuel price increase.

The PDI-P and Golkar would not have been able to stir up so much opposition to the government’s policy had Yudhoyono held onto the popularity that won him the election in 2009.

Some may blame the media for their constant assault on the government, but Yudhoyono undeniably planted the seeds of trouble himself, losing support with his indecisiveness, his inability to put his party back in order and his apparently ineffectual response to ethnic and religious conflicts, most notably the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor.

And that’s not even mentioning the many missteps and gaffes of Yudhoyono’s close political allies, such as Marzuki Alie, speaker of the House of Representatives, and Ruhut Sitompul, a Democratic lawmaker.

Yudhoyono is now trapped in a bind. His growing unpopularity curtails his freedom of action and reinforces the notion that he has become a lame duck, which only further reduces his popularity. Not surprisingly, his political rivals smelled blood last week with the fuel price protests, and they moved to hit him hard.

Still, all is not yet lost for the president. Yudhoyono remains the most popular politician in Indonesia with high name recognition among the people, and he is still in command of the bully pulpit, the office of the Indonesian president. The question is, does he still have the presidential will to use that command in order to reverse this loss?


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Kangkung


10:46am Apr 4, 2012



SBY's problem is: his 2009 popularity votes mean nothing in the parliament as his party has a lot less than majority votes.

He is already in a difficult position from the beginning.



Yohanes-Sulaiman


12:38pm Apr 4, 2012


@Kangkung: Not really. It is very difficult for any party to fight a strong/cunning and popular president. Back in the 1950s, the Masjumi was considered the strongest party, and yet Sukarno was able to split and outmaneuver them badly.

Golkar and other parties would not be able to fare well against a very popular president, until the so many missteps of President SBY.

You may notice that even during the Century scandal when the popularity of SBY was still stratospheric, the oppositions moved very carefully, lest they were seen as trying to depose a very popular president.


agentmacgyver

5:17pm Apr 4, 2012


If Yudhoyono is a lame duck, it is by definition impossible for him to muster enough "political will" to accomplish anything.

Then again, this notion of will is a preferred device of the columnist to avoid proposing realistic courses of action.


Yohanes-Sulaiman

5:23am Apr 5, 2012

@agentmacgyver: Mind to tell me and the readers what would be the realistic courses of actions?

For me, the biggest weaknesses of President SBY is in his indecisiveness, which in turn feeds to this narrative of him being a lame duck.

He, however, can still influence the political process, because he is still the most popular politician in Indonesia with a decent amount of support, regardless of all the batterings, and thus the relentless political assaults from his opponents -- because they have to ensure that he remains down and has a limited freedom of actions.

Basically, I emphasize the need for him to start acting presidential, use the bully pulpit to ensure that people know that he knows what he is doing and what his plan will be, and start taking risks.

I think that is a realistic courses of action. So, what's your idea of a "realistic course of action?" Inquiring minds want to know.


trueblue

6:20am Apr 5, 2012

agentmacgyver. You really are a cynic, who specialises in the cryptic and smart comment. The way I read this article, and indeed many others by this op-ed contributor in the past, leads me to the following conclusion. By continually and relentlessly exposing the weaknesses of the current coalition government, Yohanes is enlightening the voting readers as to the choices that need to be made at the next election. If your view is that the columnist avoids "proposing realistic realistic courses of action", are you alluding to alternative options such as anarchy, industrial turmoil, military intervention, sabotage of essential services etc., etc? It may be tedious, but surely a course that allows the democratic process to slowly grind to a conclusion is the realistic course. I don't wish to second guess Yohanes, who will no doubt post a comment.



exbrit


9:44am Apr 5, 2012


A few months ago SBY demanded that the police produce their wealth reports within one week. I don't recall him getting them. He claimed that he was going to dismantle violent gangs but the FPI are still operating with impunity. In fact they came out with an interesting statement: "Nobody listens to SBY." He promised to fight corruption but suspect Angie is still working in his government and so is Anas, whose name keeps coming up as to having received bribes. Now they have this stupid ministerial declaration that miniskirts are considered porn and yet he says and does nothing.


gregorfence


1:12pm Apr 5, 2012

YS..The title "President" is still attached to SBY and nobody else. He still got minions whose priorities are to him (?) and the top office of the country. You are correct on the faults. The blood as you said, still oozes, but nobody will give the killing blow to end it all. For the simple reason that that will immortalize him and becomes an excuse. There are a lot of them better than SBY, diplomatically and politically, including savvy on technical and management skills. Governance is a theory, actual practice is fart smelling and ass kissing. The things you do for your people. He has opened his ears to the wrong speakers and contemplated on worthless opinions too long. We can not buy time from drugstores, the remedy lost. So what SBY is is a conclusion. He mean well, and that to be the head of state is not good enough.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Paying Protesters to Rally Against Causes An Old Habit That Needs to Be Stopped

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Paying Protesters to Rally Against Causes An Old Habit That Needs to Be Stopped
Yohanes Sulaiman & Phillip Turnbull | March 27, 2012

'It is a damning admission that parties have very little sincere support among ordinary Indonesians.'


In the past few days, students and various mass organizations claiming to represent the people have hit the road and are protesting against the proposed fuel price increase. In some areas, the rallies turned anarchic, such as students looting a fuel pump in Makassar, a truck belonged to Coca-Cola and a truck carrying dozens of three-kilogram LPG containers.

Such anarchic actions seem to validate the government’s assertion to the public for the past several weeks that some parties would ride the wave of protest, trying to bring down the government. Thus, Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and defense affairs, declared that the military would be called upon to tackle any such behavior by protesters.

Many observers think the government is overreacting in threatening to bring in the military. Using the military against protesters is like using a sledgehammer to crush a nut, fostering the idea that the government is returning to authoritarian methods that would further undermine trust in the government and its commitment to democracy, which presupposes the right to lawful protest.

However, it is well known that a significant number of demonstrators are either paid by various interest groups opposed to the government or are simply opportunists trying to take advantage of the situation to push other agendas.

Neither author claims that all the student demonstrators have dubious motivations in hitting the streets. Some of them are truly idealistic, hoping that their peaceful rallies will change the government’s mind to rescind the increase in the price of fuel due to its perceived adverse effects on low-income citizens.

Yet money politics permeates all aspects of Indonesian political life and thus it is a preferred method of managing street protests. Prior to elections we have rent-a-rallies and after the elections we have rent-a-protest groups or mobs. Both commodities, bought and sold by political parties and behind-the-scenes factions intent on protecting their political and economic turf, indicate dramatically how removed from reality the government and these elite are.

It is a damning admission that the political parties have very little sincere, grassroots support or contact with ordinary Indonesians. When it needs their support it, has to purchase it.

How did this start? Many members of the political elite live in a world apart from the masses. Most political elites are the offspring of the members of the political elite of old; privileged cronies of past regimes who rose to the heights through the patronage system. Sadly, too many of them still think this is also the way to relate to the electorate.

At the same time, there are the strongmen with a lot of local influence among the less politically educated who can bring in the mob at a moment’s notice should the price be right.

This surly side of day-to-day politics has its precedent in Indonesian history, where, as a result of weak state control over the people due to the nation’s geography, many local toughs were able to act with impunity, intimidating voters at the behest of some of the parties. While these mobsters showed some token respect to the central government, their actions were condoned or ignored.

Indonesian politics is basically a marriage of these two interests: a political elite that does not have authentic grassroots support and the local toughs whose access to power, influence and protection is guaranteed by certain politicians and elite in so far as they promote the politicians’ interests through intimidation, the coercion of communities through offers of payouts and infiltrating genuine protest movements.

The money to pay for this rigged support is presumed to come from dubious sources, so in a sense it is the people themselves, in the long run, who pay out of their own pockets for the “bread and circuses” offered to them by the politicians.

The recent suggestion, denied by the palace, that the president bought off student leaders with the offer a free junket to China to silence their opposition to the coming fuel price increase, is an “Exhibit A” for this untoward influence of money in the political process.

While it is unimaginable that an administration could be so gauche or student leaders so unprincipled and easily swayed, the fact that such a preposterous suggestion got into the media is an indication that in the popular mind, anything is possible and any lengths can be taken in an attempt to safeguard political interests.

Peaceful protest and political rallies are a basic cornerstone of a healthy democratic system. At their essence, they express publicly that democracy is brought into being by the voice and will of the people, not cash payments. Sadly today it is still the case that a large number of voters are not politically sophisticated and can be bought off.

And as for purchasing a response to the projected cut in fuel levies, with the cult of popularity highly influential in the choice voters make at the polls, the parties are intent on projecting a popular image. Hence we are witnessing a cynical tug-of-war between indistinguishable self-interested groups over the distribution of the direct cash assistance (BLT) program.

The Democrats want it distributed through post offices so they can give the impression to the beneficiaries that it is from the Democratic Party while Golkar wants it done through provincial administrative agencies, which are largely controlled by Golkar members, so that it will be seen as largess from the Golkar Party.

The fact that these are state funds and belong to the people and the country and not to any particular party seems a nicety that both these contenders for the 2014 Jakarta gubernatorial election seem happy to overlook in their efforts to pull a swift one over the people.

Whatever the demerits of a cut in fuel subsidies, it has to be acknowledged that there is some sound economic rationale behind this unpopular political decision. Indonesia cannot continue to subsidize various goods to the detriment of spending in other areas. For example, the money for subsidies is, according to a World Bank report, already greater than the money spent on education in a country with a questionable standard of education.

In the meantime, what we are witnessing is clear evidence that while Indonesia continues to make often painfully slow progress towards open and transparent democratic governance, old habits die hard. And because there is scant evidence that the politicians themselves seem willing, interested or capable of making the necessary shift away from buying votes and support, it is up to ordinary residents to make that change.

To resist the lure of a handout for cheap promises is costly. To resist the lure of payment to protest an issue to which you have no real commitment or interest is selling yourself short and giving too much power to politicians and their strongmen. Indonesian politicians have better things to do with the money to hand than buying short term, illusory voter support. The money would be better spent on long-term infrastructure development and social support programs, not “bread and circuses.”



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exbrit

2:11pm Mar 27, 2012

Should get rid of the paid FPI thugs also


jchay

9:30pm Mar 27, 2012

For these same reasons, One day people will simply stop paying their hard-earned taxes.. Useless efforts.

Roland

11:35pm Mar 27, 2012

Yohanes & Phillip, gentlemen - as usual (nothing less to expect though) a well formulated and researched article. Always a pleasure to read and recommend to others.


padt

7:52am Mar 28, 2012

Roland - that you for the support. The tragedy of the situation is that it changes nothing. The 'revolution' Indonesia is yet to have is the throwing off of mentalities that keep people in bondage - for the sake of temporary and pitiful handouts.

The political rally - or the protest rally I would like to see - is the one where people silently turn up - and when the politicians get up to speak - the crowds literally turn around and show their backs to them.

It would shake these politicans to the core.