Asia Times: Indonesia's guided democracy


	August 1, 2001	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Indonesia's guided democracy
By Bill Guerin

JAKARTA - On August 17, 1945, from 58 Jalan Pegangsaan Timur, Jakarta, Ir Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed an independent Indonesia, followed by the revered constitution deed, known to this day as the 1945 (UD) constitution, enunciating the ideals and goals of independence

Fifty-five years later, one of Sukarno's daughters, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was last week elected to the highest office in the land in a bloodless parliamentary coup supposedly in line with this same 1945 constitution.

There is little left to be said about the constitutional issues that stamped the events of last week, but Indonesians may take note that Chapter 111, Article 10, states categorically that the president is the Supreme Commander of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The fate of deposed Abdurrahman Wahid, not universally abandoned by his people, was thus sealed when the armed forces and police refused to follow the president's orders, thereby breaching the hallowed constitution themselves.

Sukarno himself had never seen the constitution as cast in stone. In 1950 he revamped the original version with these words, "Just declare it, its only provisional anyway ... " In 1955, a second attempt by Sukarno to amend the constitution failed, and, under the pretext of his "guided democracy", he grabbed all the power of the state into his own hands.

The chambers of power in the magnificent Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (People's Consultative Assembly or MPR) building, where former president Suharto so often made a mockery of the democratic process, resounded last week to frequent peals of the "Voice of the People" bell. This was as much of a scam as Suharto buying his way back into office every five years for three decades.

When seizing power in 1967, the New Order Government of Suharto strictly and consistently upheld the 1945 constitution and Pancasila, the national ideology which Sukarno first proclaimed as the state philosophy and ideology. The constitution and Pancasila were held sacred and used as a battering ram on the very few occasions when the elite were met head-on by opponents.

Perhaps after all, many Indonesians are culturally more suited to a guided democracy, where the dream is more important than the reality, where the constitution is used as a tool to convince them that they really are being governed democratically.

Perhaps the democratic nature and goals of their ancient, but still very much alive, concepts of gotong royong (mutual assistance), deliberations of representatives (musyawarah) and consensus (mufakat), are more easily understood.

Despite her father, "Bung Karno" Sukarno's destruction of the economy, which resulted in a military takeover and led the nation to 33 years of political repression by Suharto, his rhetoric and ability to reach out to the millions ensured he was held in the highest esteem. His rabid nationalism was suited to the aftermath of decades of struggle, but has been a lost cause since Suharto brought Indonesia back into the real world, consistent with the needs of a fast developing nation.

How much of her father's traits and beliefs have rubbed off on Megawati? She told Asiaweek in June 1998, just before the elections, "If Bung Karno could see the uncertainties of my people now, he would surely feel ashamed. He had said, 'A government which makes its people dependent on the mercy of others is committing a crime that cannot be tolerated.'"

Does tinkering with the constitution fit this latter category? The same Megawati, an ardent constitutionalist, presides over the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) which initiated the infamous retroactive clause that amended the constitution to forbid action against any human rights violations which took place before the relevant law was in place. The same party cobbled together the agenda item for 1999's annual MPR session, which when passed allowed the TNI/Polri (military/police) faction to retain 38 appointed seats in the legislature for an extra five years from 2004. The astonishing volte face, when the military itself was ready to leave the legislature, undid much of Wahid's limited success in striving for civilian supremacy.

Megawati will be tested, and face scrutiny, on several fronts. Indonesia owes almost US$150 billion, a mammoth inheritance for her new economic team to chip away at. The budget deficit is soaring above 6 percent of GDP and the International Monetary Fund can be expected to pull Indonesian issues firmly back into the world spotlight after their August holidays.

The solidarity shown by the various factions that so readily responded to the urgings of Megawati's husband, Taufik Kiemas, to deliver the verdict on Wahid, will come at great cost. This is one reason why, a week after her elevation to the presidency, Megawati has so far been unable to announce even her new cabinet line-up. Few people believe that she herself will have much say in the choices.

Take Golkar. On June 29, the party chairman, Akbar Tandjung, said his party would not nominate a vice presidential candidate. Little over three weeks later, he was involved in a protracted struggle for the vice president's chair, absolutely refusing to heed wiser counsel to withdraw. Golkar will be making protracted bids for ministerial posts. A real danger for the party following Tandjung's very ill-advised bid for power, is that of a return to the "identity politics" of the 1950s, which could result in Golkar taking the full-blooded wrath of a people heartily sick of corruption in the corridors of power, terror, bombings, the gross injustices of the legal system, et al.

Tandjung is closely associated with Suharto's corrupt and autocratic New Order regime as is his party, which was the New Order's political vehicle. Any Golkar demand for ministerial seats will fuel intense anger on the streets. Yet, on the weekend, new Vice President Hamzah Haz pops up to tell the media that the public should not continuously condemn the New Order regime, saying that the ones at fault were the people and not the government.

"We should not blame the New Order only as it was born in response to the existence of the Old Order, which had deviated from the nation's struggle for the betterment of the country and the people, and to progressive communism in the country at the time," Hamzah said, apparently seriously.

The fight against graft, poverty and unemployment will be in the sights of Megawati's people and Indonesia watchers alike, including the World Bank, whose president James Wolfensohn last week reminded us that Indonesia's spending this year to service foreign debt alone is six times greater than spending on education and social and health care needs.

Last week's brutal slaying of Supreme Court Judge, Justice M Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, involved in the sentencing of Bob Hasan and Tommy Suharto and in the Bank Bali scandal, guarantees intimidation of judges, as well as enhanced levels of terror for the public.

Megawati always lacked military support under Suharto, but since her election as vice president in 1999, she consistently courted the military. Considering the military toppled her father, and helped destroy her party headquarters in 1996, her pragmatism is to be respected. But will it benefit her people? Any attempt to resurrect the stalled investigations into the part top brass played in major human rights tragedies, including East Timor, will be dangerous for her. Megawati has already offended hundreds of her grass-roots supporters by failing to appear at last Friday's commemoration of the July 27, 1996, tragedy.

The diminutive Munir, voice of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, identifies the commemoration as a barometer of Megawati's and her party official's concern in resolving the suspected human rights abuses in relation to the incident.

"The July 27 incident should be viewed as one of the country's political monuments, or a state crime committed by the past regime, so therefore, the current administration should correct it. But now, the supporters are left alone leaderless," he pronounced.

The military remain disenchanted with the mess created by the civilian politicians, and will look to Megawati to demonstrate that the country needs a strong armed force. Her nationalism will fuel these expectations, but unless she gets reformation of the military firmly on the agenda, she may have serious problems with the current US administration.

Megawati, unfortunately, omitted to mention democracy and human rights in last week's inauguration speech. Her platform and priority is unity, but the question is, how will unity be forced on restless regions disenchanted with Javanese leaders and policies?

Indonesians need a leader who can unify the three largest mass organizations: Nahdatul Ulama (NU) with its estimated 30 million constituents, Muhammadiyah with around 28 million voices, and Megawati's own PDI-P with about the same number. Not only would real democracy be nearer if these three mass organizations, two Muslim and one Nationalist, could be unified, but it would have the added benefit of containing the military and easing them out of their interface with the governmental process.

Will Islamic groups be engaged in any power sharing in Megawati's coalition? Is Megawati able to respond to the need for power to be shared between them and other key groups in society?

Her Vice President, Hamzah Haz, leads Indonesia's largest Islamic political party, Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP), a fact which gives some hope that the political transitional dilemma for a country where close to 90 percent of the population is Muslim, may be addressed. Islamic groups say their previous problems with her are no longer relevant, but ...

The Megawati/Islamic issue goes back some time. Speaking on the eve of the presidential election in October 1999, Buyung Nasution, a prominent lawyer, conveniently and publicly made the point that many Muslims looked on Megawati as a threat because she had too many Christians in her line-up and because she enjoyed the support of too many Indonesian Chinese, thought to be involved in a "conspiracy" with overseas Chinese.

"Worst of all," he added, "the Muslims suspect that these Indonesian Chinese and overseas Chinese are part of an international conspiracy with the Western Jews and capitalism, including the World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank."

Few believed this arrent nonsense, but the damage was done. Frequently heard at the time was a quote from the Koran, Arrijaalu qauwamuuna alannisa, which suggests that men will always become the leader of women. During the presidential vote, "Block Megawati" was the aria, as the other parties believed she and the PDI-P were a threat to Islam.

However, in the end, the middle axis coalition, the so called poros tengah, failed dismally to live up to the boast that they represented an emerging Islamic faction in Indonesian politics with the strength, unity and cohesion to affect the current political transition.

The disenfranchised "Voices of the People" resounding through the halls of the MPR for four days, and being articulated by legislators supposedly on their behalf, were the prelude to a struggle which has not even begun.

Democracy is the power of the people, but it can deliver its promise only when a united civil society can balance the power of the state. The people have to be able to participate in the decision-making process to make democracy possible.

Pinning hopes on the ability of Megawati to resolve the scores of major problems facing her country may be the mother of all dreams. As her father said, "The people let their sovereignty be taken by the authorities, and they become blind to the fact that freedom is mankind's most precious jewel."

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