LAKSAMANA.Net, December 8, 2003 12:13 AM
Review - Politics: Courage & Leadership
Laksamana.Net - Political activity and news side-lined matters of the economy or
business last week as Indonesians realized that only four months separates them
from Indonesia's eighth general election since independence.
The week kicked off with People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais
dropping the bombshell that he planned to step down from the leadership of the
National Mandate Party (PAN) after the general elections, due to be held April 5,
2004.
Rais told an audience of celebrities and artists in Semarang, Central Java, on Sunday
(30/11/03) that the party needed rejuvenated leadership and would decide on his
successor in 2004.
On Monday Rais got into full swing, attacking the government's refusal to shut down
extremist Muslim schools. Closing down Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) controlled schools
required moral courage, which the authorities lack, he was quoted as saying.
The comment appeared to be a ploy by Rais to reach the middle ground of nationalist
moderation, away from his roots as a supporter of a more Islamic nation.
Megawati threatens the press
President Megawati Soekarnoputri was once again in confrontational mode with the
media when booting reporters out of a Monday (1/12/03) meeting at party
headquarters where the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
which she chairs, was celebrating Idul Fitri.
Local reporters were all over the place, having been officially invited by the party's
secretariat to cover the event.
But in the middle of an impromptu speech in front of hundreds of supporters she said,
"This is not for publication, this is off-the-record so should there be news about this
(meeting) I will sue (the media running the story)". She then ordered the angry scribes
to be led out of the meeting hall.
Megawati recently told the national association of publishers that she would settle
any disputes with the media through the National Press Council before going to court.
Winata no 'taipan'
Well-connected tycoon Tomy Winata has made no such promises. On the contrary
he has sued Tempo over a March story that linked him to a fire that razed most of
Jakarta's huge Tanah Abang textile market to the ground.
An 'expert witness’ called to testify in the civil case in the South Jakarta District
Court, said he regretted the daily's use of the word "taipan" to describe the local hero,
as this implied that Winata was a 'bandit tycoon'.
The witness, University of Indonesia lecturer Tjipta Lesmana, opined that Tempo was
out of order to use such damning terms as "rumors said" and "purportedly".
Though Lesmana's opinions might have been confused with evidence and suggested
that he was an expert in the finer nuances of language, his real skills quickly
emerged.
He was, it turned out, more likely to be an expert in counting, or perhaps even a
lecturer in mathematics. Lesmana testified to the court that the first six paragraphs of
the article in question, 53% of the article's content, contained 277 words, and focused
more on Winata than the other subject of the story, Southeast Sulawesi governor Ali
Mazi.
The case was adjourned until December 8, presumably to give judge Zoeber Djajadi
time to count the words for himself and to mug up on the finer points of logic viz a viz
premises and conclusions.
Please be fair
Megawati had built up a head of steam again by Thursday (4/12/03) and urged
political parties to be fair and not to deride her government to gain votes in the
upcoming elections.
"I know the parties will try hard to denounce the current administration. I ask all
parties to be fair in judging whether the government's performance is good or bad,"
she said.
Speaking in Cikampek, West Java, the President also said Indonesians should do
less criticizing and instead channel their energies to build up the country.
"This is not the right moment to speak ill of others. We are wasting our energy which
we need to rebuild our nation for the future," Megawati said.
She apparently believes campaigns could and should be conducted "without
damaging the government's image and should be conducted in a fair and ethical
manner".
Last month, Megawati lashed out at members of her own party, calling them "thugs"
who are out of touch with voters - an apparent attempt to rein in corrupt cadres seen
as a hindrance to her re-election in 2004.
The results of a small poll organized by the little known Jakarta-based 'Soegeng
Sarjadi Syndicate' showed the president and Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare Jusuf Kalla top the president-vice president candidates.
According to the poll results announced Tuesday the pair won 22.39% of the vote from
some 5,000 respondents in 15 provinces.
MPR Speaker Amien Rais and Coordinating Minister for Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono came second with 15.23%.
Forget the young
Less than 20 parties will be eligible to contest the 2004 elections, the General
Elections Commission (KPU) revealed on Friday (5/12/03).
They will be competing to attract an estimated 25% of the 145 million eligible voters
nationwide who are first-time voters.
Parties and their candidates could reasonably have expected some success in
wooing these new voters but youth leaders pledged on Wednesday (3/12/03) that their
activist groups would not vote next year.
"We don't believe in next year's general elections, as the political parties that will
contest it are the legacy of the New Order regime, which was corrupt to the core,"
Democratic People's Party (PRD) chairman Haris Rusli Moti said.
He said major political parties try to gain more power and seats at the House of
Representatives (DPR) by taking advantage of uneducated voters.
Leaders of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI), the July 27 Youth
Organization (GP27 Juli) and Government Watch (GOWA) voiced similar sentiments.
Yonas from the Student Action Front for Reform and Democracy (Famred) said young
people were 'disillusioned by the fact that the country was still run by corrupt leaders'.
"I am afraid the 2004 general elections would only bring about the resurgence of the
New Order regime," Yonas said.
New generation New Order
Refusing to vote is not an offence under the General Elections Law No. 12/2003 but
the use of violence or threatening violence to prevent voters from casting ballots is
punishable by up to 12 months imprisonment and a fine of up to Rp10 million.
KPU research indicates some 80% of top legislators of political parties are politicians
linked to the New Order regime.
Three powerful New Order figures, all Golkar stalwarts, are eying up the presidency.
Gen. Wiranto, the former armed forces chief, and Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto, the
former special forces commander who abducted several democracy activists and was
suspected of instigating the May 1998 riots which led to 1,200 deaths and to
Suharto's downfall, are in the running.
Parliamentary Speaker and convicted felon Akbar Tanjung, awaiting a final appeal
hearing by the Supreme Court, insists he is still in with a chance to be nominated as
Golkar's single presidential candidate.
Suharto's daughter lines up
The activists' words might have been prophetic as later the same day Suharto's eldest
daughter, Siti "Tutut" Hardyanti Rukmana, was declared as the official Concern for the
Nation Party (PKPB) candidate in next year's presidential elections.
Tutut’s father set up the tiny PKPB after he was forced from office and it was only
this week formally 'approved' by the General Elections Commission (KPU) as an
official party.
Analysts are at odds whether Indonesians will flock to Tutut as a representative of the
stability and economic success of the New Order, or continue to bear resentment
towards the region's most corrupt family.
A corruption investigation against Tutut was quietly dropped earlier this year but some
circles claim many would be voters are disillusioned with the failed reform era, and
long for the economic and political stability the country enjoyed under Suharto.
In an online poll by detik.com 704 out of 2,200 respondents said they would vote for
her.
Six more parties pass
Along with Tutut's PKPB, five more of the 40 political parties undergoing screening
were officially passed eligible for next year's elections, the KPU announced on
Tuesday (2/12/03).
These are the Democratic Party, the Indonesia Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), the
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Reform Star Party and the Freedom Bull
National Party (PNBK).
This means 12 political parties are now allowed to fight the country's legislative
election in April 2004 and the two-stage direct presidential elections in July and
September.
Six of these qualified automatically as they won more than the minimum 2% of the
overall vote in the 1999 election.
They are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar, the United
Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National
Mandate Party (PAN), and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
In 1999, 48 parties contested the elections, dubbed the country's first ever democratic
polls. Only one third of them won seats in the House of Representatives.
Tremors in Jakarta
In the midst of all the political tremors, as it were, an earthquake shook parts of
Jakarta on Wednesday evening (3/12/03).
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake, measuring 5.2 on the
Richer scale, was centered 26.1 miles under the Java sea off Pelabuhan Ratu in West
Java, about 145 kilometers south of Jakarta.
The tremor shook buildings in the capital for about a minute and could be felt as far
away as the West Java town of Bogor, witnesses said, though there were no reports
of casualties or damage.
Ba'asyir cleared of treason
In a decision taken on November 10 but not made public until Monday (1/12/03), the
Jakarta High Court threw out the treason charge against Ba'asyir and reduced his
sentence for immigration and forgery counts to three years.
Ba'asyir, 64, was brought to court on four main charges - planning to overthrow the
government, plotting to kill President Megawati Sukarnoputri when she was vice
president, immigration violations and document forgery.
He was found guilty of treason by the lower court but was not found, on the evidence,
to be the leader of regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for a string
of terrorist attacks in the country, including the deadly Bali bombings on October 12,
2002 and the J.W. Marriot attack in Jakarta on August 5, 2003.
The five-judge panel that oversaw his initial trial in September did rule that Ba'asyir
had been associated with acts of treason by JI members. In the ruling announced on
Monday that decision was also overturned.
While he was cleared of charges of being JI's leader in the September rulings, some
analysts, diplomats and intelligence sources still claim Ba'asyir plays a major role in
the group.
Ba'asyir's lawyer, Achmad Kholid, said the cleric's defense team was likely to appeal
to the Supreme Court in an effort to have all the charges against him thrown out.
Christmas terror threat
Most of the recent bombings in Indonesia blamed on JI have been linked to graduates
of Ba'asyir's Al Mukmin Ngruki religious school at Solo, Central Java.
As Amien Rais pointed out earlier, Ba'asyir still operates the school, that has
graduated an "A-list of terrorists," including bomb guru Fathur Rohman Al Ghozi,
gunned down recently by the Filipino military.
The US Embassy in Jakarta on Friday (5/12/03) issued a security warning to its
nationals saying they could be targeted in a Christmas holiday bombing campaign.
"The potential for additional bombings at places where Americans and Westerners are
known to live or congregate is particularly high during the weeks around Christmas
through the New Year," the embassy said in a statement emailed to citizens.
"Sex pest" ambassador back
South Africa's ambassador to Indonesia, Norman Mashabane, has returned to his
post, sparking a renewed outcry from gender activists, rights groups and opposition
politicians at home in Johannesburg where he has been dubbed a "sex pest".
Mashabane took up his Jakarta posting in July 2001.
Though found guilty on 21 charges of sexual misconduct against several Indonesian
women in two court cases, Mashabane, who has appealed both verdicts, has not
been suspended or dismissed.
"Mashabane is not fit to represent our country, he is an embarrassment," said South
Africa's Independent Democrat leader Patricia de Lille.
The Department of Foreign Affairs in Johannesburg said it was awaiting the outcome
of an investigation initiated after Mashabane was first convicted of sexual harassment.
In Jakarta Foreign Ministry officials said Monday (1/12/03) they were aware of the
alleged sexual misconduct but could do little even if the allegations were true as
Mashabane has diplomatic immunity.
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