Happy Birthday Pancasila

During a meeting of the Committee for the Preparation of Independence of Indonesia (BPUPKI).on 1 June 1945, the leader of independence movement Soekarno delivered a speech titled " The Birth of Pancasila ".

Soekarno proposed the state of Indonesia to adopt Pancasila as a political philosophy. Pancasila consists of two Sanskrit words i.e Panca: five, Sila: Principles, comprising of :
1)  Belief in One God
2)  A Just and Civilized Humanity
3)  Indonesian Unity
4)  Democracy
5)  Social Justice

During the authoritarian governments of former President Soekarno (1945-1966), and former President Soeharto (1966-1988) Pancasila was strictly adopted as a doctrine. Social, Political, Economical activities must solely be based on Pancasila.

After Soeharto stepped down on 21 May 1998, Indonesia became a liberal democratic country, and freedom of speech and human rights became very important factors in the country.

As a result, the government and law enforcement agencies tend to be very careful, sometimes hesitate in enforcing laws and regulations. This together with Poverty, Injustice and Corruption have made some people lost their faith on Pancasila and choose other ideology as basis for their activities. Some political parties and non government organizations choose religion as their sole ideology so as to get people's support and votes. Inter-faith conflicts broke in many regions.

The worst thing was that many of them became extremely fanatic that they were willing kill many people by exploding themselves in order to get what they want.

Considering that the five principles of Pancasila are suitable for Indonesia and not contradictory to religion, politics, cultures, etc. I hope that from now on, each and every one of us in Indonesia, would accept Pancasila as the country's main ideology.

For which purpose the government and its law enforcement agencies should enforce the laws and regulations based on the concepts of supremacy of law, presumption of innocence, equality before the law.

Source:
Wikipedia.

The Trisakti Tragedy - 12 May 1998

Thirteen years ago, 12 May 1998, four students of the Trisakti University, Jakarta, were shot to death while they were demonstrating against the 32-years old authoritarian government of President Soeharto.

Until this moment the death of those students i.e Elang Mulia Lesmana, Heri Hertanto, Hafidin Royan, dan Hendriawan Sie is still a mystery, no thorough investigation has made on the shootings. 

However, the facts at the scene of Crime show that they were shot in vital parts of their bodies i.e. either in the head, or neck or chest. Which means that the shooting was done Snipers i.e. specially skilled persons who were well trained and armed to shoot from long distance.

Considering that civilians who own firearms in Indonesia are very strictly limited, I believe that only certain people has Sniper Skill in Indonesia. But this does not necessarily mean that the shooting was done by Indonesians, there is also a possibility that it was done by foreigners hired by some people here.

Considering that witnesses to the Trisakti Tragedy are getting old, some have even died, I hope that there will be an open and thorough investigation to reveal this tragedy in the near future. Otherwise it would always be a mystery.

Is Freedom a Blessing or a Curse ?

The Constitution of 1945 stipulated that the freedom of every Indonesian citizens is protected by the laws.

However, in 53 years after its independence on 17 August 1945, Indonesia was ruled by authoritarian regimes that used their powers merely for the interests of their family, friends and groups. Freedom was very limited, oppositions was crushed, the media was heavily censored. Any violation would be severely punished either legitimately or illegitimately, among others by shutting down the publisher/broadcaster and detaining the persons in charge.

In spite of the lack of freedom, between 1968 and 1998, Indonesians enjoyed economical, social, political and security conditions which were relatively stable.. The economy grew steadily, educations were affordable, no very serious religious, racial and political conflicts among the people was reported.

But unfortunately, the economy was heavily depended on foreign debts, investments, and exports of natural oil, gas, timbers, so when the international financial crisis broke in 1997, Indonesia was hit very badly, and forced to accept the emergency program directed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including the liberalization of social, economic and political lives.

This fact and nationwide public protests against the 32-years authoritarian regime of President Suharto had forced him to step down from 32 years power on 21 May 1998, and asked Vice President Habibie to take over.

And liberal democracy came to Indonesia and the social, political, economical and security situation became unstable.

One year later, the first free general election was held and won by the anti-Suharto Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle led by the daughter of former President Soekarno namely Megawati. Unfortunately, the People's Consultative Council (MPR) did not elected her as president, instead they elected the leader of the largest Islamic organization namely Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) on October 1999.

Gus Dur was a very liberal and highly respected human rights. He abolished racialist laws against minorities including Chinese citizens, recognized extreme-fanatic religious movements, etc. Muslim-Non Muslim bloody conflicts broke in the Island of Maluku and Sulawesi.

Gus Dur's policies were too controversial for other politicians, including his plan to disband the pro-Suharto Golkar Party, so on July 2001, the MPR ousted him and Megawati became President. Many violence broke, among others the suicide  bombing in Bali in 2002

 In 2004, General Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) won the first freely-held presidential election with a land slide majority of more than 60%. But his Democrat Party only minority seats in the House of Representatives so he must form coalition government with the Golkar Party several Moslem political parties. This weak political support has made SBY always hesitate in taking actions especially against violent organizations using religion as mask like the FPI that often carried out illegal sweepings and curfews on public places.

More suicide bombings exploded in Bali (2005) and Jakarta (2009), many inter-religion conflicts broke in some parts of the country.

In 2009, more than 60% of the people, including me, re-elected SBY once again, but considering that his Democrat Party on got around 25% of the seats in the House of Representatives, therefore SBY must once again rely on the support of his coalition partners i.e. the Golkar Party and Islamic based parties.

This is ironic, because our Constitution adopted the Presidential government-system, whereby the President hold supreme executive power, therefore should not be depended on the House of Representatives.

Today, almost two years I cast my votes for SBY and his Democrat Party, he is still like before. As a result, the majority of our people are still living in poverty, unemployment is growing, many injustices exist, reluctance to fight corruption, only few people can afford the very expensive higher education.
Moreover, violence organizations are seemingly becoming more stronger.

Considering the above, I felt that SBY and his Democrat party should stick to the promises that they have made during the last general election and presidential election i.e. govern the country based on the concept of pluralism, supremacy of law, equality before the law merely for the best interest of the Indonesian people and not just for certain individuals, groups and political parties. That way, people would not regret casting their votes for you in the elections. And the freedom that we have since 1998 would be a blessing, and not a curse, for us.

Well, that's my personal opinion about freedom, I shall be very glad to know about your opinion.

Egypt, Indonesia, Military Regime

After 18 days of demonstrations that killed around 300 people, yesterday the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from 30 years of authoritarian rule.

The interesting thing was that Mubarak hand over his power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which means that Egypt is now under military regime.

This remind me of the situation in Indonesia in 1966 when President Soekarno was forced to hand over power to the military which marked the beginning of 32 years of authoritarian rule.

It all began on the night of 30 September 1965 when 6 Army generals and 1 officer were brutally killed by a mysterious group of people.

The Army suspected that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was responsible for the killing, in their effort to take over power from President Soekarno.

On 11 March 1966, the Army lead by the late General Soeharto forced President Soekarno to hand over his power to them. In 1967, Soeharto was appointed as Acting President, and President in 1968..

Within two years after that, hundreds of thousands of people alleged to be members of PKI were killed mysteriously, some were sentenced to death or life by military tribunal, and many were send to exile at the Buru Island in the Province of Maluku.
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Afterward, the regime make efforts to maintain power among others by silencing oppositions, limiting political parties, fabricating general elections, etc. The worst thing was that said regime practiced and condone overwhelming corruption, bribery, and all other evil things for the nation, that when Soeharto was forced to stepped down on 21 May 1998, the country has to be treated under intensive care of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Considering the similarity between what happened in Egypt today and Indonesia in 1966, I felt that it would be best for Egypt to learn from our experiences so that they could avoid the terrible things that happened to Indonesia when we were under military/authoritarian regime.

Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia

Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.

The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.

Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.   

Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.

Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.

I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.

So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country  merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.

Reformasi

On 21 May 1998, devastating economic crisis has forced President Soeharto to step down from power.

After that, Indonesia has been experiencing the process of transformation from an authoritarian rule to a liberal democracy. This process is popularly known in Bahasa Indonesia as " Reformasi ".

And today, 12 years after " Reformasi ", I wonder whether the whole process has been beneficial for the Indonesian people, or merely for a bunch of politicians.

In this regards, I quoted a relevant article in Kompas (below).

12 Years after Soeharto, Indonesians Fear for 'Reformasi'

Jumat, 21 Mei 2010 | 12:01 WIB

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Twelve years after the dawning of Indonesia’s ’Reformasi’ movement with the resignation of military strongman Soeharto, there are fears the country of 240 million people is on a slipperly slope backwards. No one disputes how far Indonesia has come: the economy is booming and last year’s peaceful elections brought political stability by returning Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the presidency for a second five-year term.

The massive street protests, bloody anti-Chinese riots  and economic ruin that marked the last days of  Soeharto's "New Order" regime are in the past, and Indonesia  is demanding a greater say in world affairs. But on the 12th anniversary of Suharto’s resignation Friday, all is not well with ’Reformasi’, the sweeping popular movement for democratic change that energised reform across the vast archipelago for more than a decade.

Some analysts fear the tide may be turning back in favour of Suharto-style cronyism and a political and business elite that has never, they say, relinquished power.

“There is not much difference between Soeharto’s time and now. It’s just that Soeharto’s cronies have been replaced by new cronies,” economist Martin Panggabean said.

Analysts express concern about persistent, widespread corruption, a lack of government transparency, a culture of impunity for human rights abuses and the increasing use of draconian libel laws to muzzle critics.

Such fears came to a head earlier this month with the shock resignation of finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, an independent economist who frequently clashed with reactionary forces within the ruling coalition.

Indrawati won international accolades for keeping Southeast Asia’s biggest economy growing throughout the global downturn while battling to clean up the graft-riddled tax and customs offices.

But her lonely campaign received little more than rhetorical support from Yudhoyono, and eventually her position became untenable in the face of constant attacks from the Golkar party, Soeharto’s largely unreformed political vehicle. Speaking to business leaders earlier this week, the outgoing minister compared the current situation to the crony-dictatorship of Soeharto, who died in hospital in January, 2008.

“We have learnt from the 30-year regime of president Soeharto, where relationships between personal and public interests were so mixed-up,” she said.  “We all knew — what occurred during the New Order era was like a disease. But at that time it was done behind closed doors. Now it’s more sophisticated and the skills of power enable the decision-making process to be co-opted.”

In what some observers interpreted as a parting shot at the ruling elite before she starts her new job as a World Bank director next month, she said the current system worked like a “cartel” or a “same-sex marriage”. “You can see for yourselves, government officials with business backgrounds, even though they say they have put aside all their businesses, everyone knows that their siblings, their children, who knows who else from their families, are still running the firms,” she said.

The comments were reported as a stab at Golkar party chief Aburizal Bakrie, seen as the architect of the campaign to remove Indrawati after she tried to bring his vast business empire under the rule of law.

Within days of her resignation, and after secret talks with Yudhoyono, Bakrie had been appointed to lead a new “secretariat” tasked with overseeing the ruling coalition.

Analysts said a key test for ’Reformasi’ will be whether an investigation launched by Indrawati into 210 million dollars in allegedly unpaid taxes by Bakrie-linked mining companies is brought to trial or swept under the carpet.