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02/28/2005.
Indonesia is a unique country, at least if it is
viewed from the country’s ex presidents. Five former
presidents, five completely different backgrounds and
performances. Can those be a lesson for the current
president?
The first was an excellent thinker and a charismatic
orator, Soekarno. He was an engineer, too. Perhaps
this background helped him to envision a “social
engineering” in the country in the 1950s and early
1960s. He helped the country through her independence
and early nation-building. His mantra was revolution
which is more or less a “social engineering”, an
attempt
by a government to alter society. However, he did not
clearly outline and initiate how the government would
change the society whether through social education
development or rapid economic development. Perhaps he
should have just followed what the iconoclast Abbie
Hoffman wrote, “The first
duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it.” Or
did he stick to Aristotle’s word that poverty is the
parent of revolution and crime? In reality, poverty is
often the child of revolution. Soekarno’s approach,
at least a decade after the 1945 independence, was
more on personality, rather than on substance.
I was once told that many Indonesians who studied in
Europe
in the early 60s were proud of their country because
of Soekarno’s flamboyancy, elegance and charisma. It
boosted their sense of confidence. Unquestionably,
Indonesia—and Indonesians—are in the middle of a
crisis of confidence. The recent troubles and
tragedies have devastated the moral of the Indonesian
people and have also affected the way the
international community see Indonesia—and Indonesians.
It is rather less encouraging.
Another was a general who barely finished high school
or diploma degree, Suharto. He was also far from a
charismatic and excellent speaker. In fact, people who
listened to his speeches would be falling asleep in
their seats. He smiled a lot as if smile can solve all
problems. Or was he coincidentally in line with Al
Capone’s principle: “You can go a long way with a
smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a
gun”?
Suharto built the country’s fragile economy only to
collapse and bring millions of people down with it. In
addition, according to
TI’s data, he stole an incredible amount of
country’s resources which made him the most corrupt
leader ever in the modern history. To his credit,
Suharto knew the route to progress: stability comes
first, or at least is hand in hand, with economic
development. The problem is he could not control his
family members, his crony and his friends from
corrupting the nation’s resources.
The next former president is a technocrat who holds a
doctorate degree in aeronautical engineering, Habibie.
He is a fast talker. He could be provocative, throwing
out grandeur dreams of Indonesia’s future. He is
perhaps too much influenced by John Kennedy’s speech
in
Dublin, Ireland on June 28, 1963, “We
need men who can dream of things that never were.”
Yes, Habibie was dreaming of producing aeroplanes. His
theory is simple. Why not produce goods with huge
value-added and then trade them with relatively
low-value added ones such as agricultural products. He
certainly did not care of millions of people who have
jobs in the agriculture sector. No, he followed
Anatole
France’s remark, “To
accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.”
He acted, and wasted Indonesia’s resources. Only a
fool would never realize that the millions of people
living in the villages and working on agriculture need
jobs and income. He had a grandeur dream but
groundless foundation. As the old saying goes,
“Whatever is produced in haste goes hastily to
waste.” Habibie is a genius doctor without a sense of
priority and urgency. He turned from engineer to be a
delusional technocrat—and leader.
About one and a half years, the doctor was replaced by
a religious cleric. That’s it, from an aeroplane
builder to religious cleric. Don’t be surprised. The
Muslim cleric, Wahid, is not a mullah-type of cleric
who only thinks of future life in heaven and imposes
strict religious laws on earth. He is rather a
reformed cleric who views that religious must provide
answers to human’s problems, not human beings trying
to find the solution to empower religion. Is he
inspired by Robert Millikan, a physicist who wrote, “I
conceive the essential task of religion to be "to
develop the consciences, the ideals, and the
aspirations of mankind”? Wahid is an
excellent individual, but he has a problem. He is
blind—literally. Perhaps he is the only blind
president in the modern history. In addition, while
Wahid is also a simple individual, he is rather
difficult to understand, including his decision to
declare a political emergency before a parliamentary
session scheduled to recommend his impeachment in
2001.
The last is Megawati, a household wife turned into
politician. Never formally finished her undergraduate
degree, Megawati is widely viewed just a regular
individual, except that she is the daughter of the
country’s first president. And many believe that she
came to power solely because of her last name.
However, life is not as simple as that. Her rising to
the power was a combination of luck, timing,
persistent, simplicity, and the last name. Did she
study Confucius’s words, “The
firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are
near to virtue”? In the end, unfortunately, many saw
that she changed after she came to power.
In the end, her household’s symbol was not
sufficient enough to manage a troubled country.
Megawati is a decent woman who could not recover from
her status as a household wife.
The current president, Mr. Susilo, still has at least
four years to become former president. But time goes
by quickly. He can now ask himself, how his fellow
Indonesians will remember him when he becomes former
president. Few could be another Soekarno. Charismatic
leaders don’t come often. Neither Susilo is a
household wife. Thankfully, lessons are readily
available for Susilo. The last thing Indonesia needs
is a corrupt and incompetent president, a leader with
a grandiose and groundless dream, and a leader who is
difficult to understand.
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