Fight!

Disbelief and humiliated, those were among the first responses that came into everybody’s mind on hearing the news of bomb explosion at JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotel, Jakarta, on Friday morning. Deep sympathy to the victims and their families, who were killed and wounded in the blast, were poured. The Jakartans and the Indonesian people in general were deeply wounded again with this act of violence.

Whoever these people and their enemies are, they are playing at wrong battle grounds. No matter what motives, messages they try to convey, and results they want to achieve are, their acts of violence will soon bring their own demise, instead of bringing them closer to their ideals.

If injustices are their enemies, they shouldn’t act with the same bad language. What have made them looked different then? Why would they inflict such grave damages to the country and the people who were just recovering from decades of wounds and may little to do with their problems? If the intention is to prevent Indonesia and the Indonesian people from advancing towards a better and stronger country, God’s willing, it will fail.

We have no answers yet to those questions, and may not get one very soon, but we will. In the mean time, the political elites shall hold their mouths. Instead of using the tragedy as ammunition to attack rivals, they have to unite. But if they don’t, people know where to stand. The election is over, and no benefits for any black campaigns. Those who put more fuel and a flame will eventually get themselves burnt.

Indonesians are strong enough to face such a challenge, and get even stronger with such irresponsible act. Fight is certainly not the only word that would bring the perpetrators down, but fight has many facets other than its physical and violent forms. Violence will not surrender with violence. War can’t be won with war. Ancient Chinese says, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood, Wood parts Earth, Earth absorbs Water.

Indonesia is advancing in many aspects of life, and act of terror will not stopping us from pursuing better lives. Those who used to get benefits from our problems, instability and backwardness shall start changing their behaviors if they want to get benefits from the more stable and prosperous Indonesia.

Talkers

Last week, right after the unofficial announcement by PD that Boediono would be selected as SBY’s running mate for the upcoming Presidential election in July 8, leaders from PD’s coalition parties, especially PKS and PAN, voiced out their disappointment, suspicion, accusation and even threatened to quit the coalition with PD, if SBY didn’t change his preference. We know that PKS finally stayed with PD, while PAN showed their half-hearted support to the pair. I am no politician, and never want to be one, but a few thoughts below may be worth to consider.

The first one is about PKS. The reason why I casted my vote for PKS in 2004 general election, and might be the same reasons for many others, was not because its Islam platform, but because of its strong image as a clean party and more importantly because its people were always one of the first groups to be out there in the fields at the time of crisis or disasters, without too much of a fuss.

In the past, PKS was seen as a party of doers, instead of talkers. PKS had ever brought fresh wind into the country, making it different from the other political parties where its leaders did too many talks and self publicities with no or little works. PKS was also trying to project its moderate and tolerant image, and avoiding any linkages with an alleged grand scenario to convert Indonesia into Islamic state practicing strict shariah laws.

The incident in West Java, where the governor of a PKS cadre banned the traditional dance of Jaipong, tarnished not only its tolerant and moderate image, but also raised questions on its stance and appreciation towards diverse and rich Indonesia cultural roots. Meanwhile, its image as a party of doers was not as strong as before, and its clean image was overshadowed by the achievements of the current administration in combating corruption.

What PKS leaders did last week related with Boediono’s selection as SBY’s VP had caused further damages to its reputation. Not only people saw that PKS leaders were tempted to be talkers on the media, instead of channeling their concerns directly to SBY without creating unnecessary fuss, it also revealed the harder side of its face by pushing SBY to choose an Islamist figure to be his running mate.

PKS should learn from its mistakes and blunders, or else it would be fallen into just another Islamist party that cares for names instead of substance, that uses mouths instead of deeds, that looks for power instead of trust.

What about PAN? I have only one comment: pathetic.

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The Break Up

In general people do not like surprises and uncertainties, business and common people alike, and hence things that will ensure stability and continuity will get support from the majority of the people. That’s what exactly happened in the Indonesian politics these days, when the break up of the coalition between Partai Demokrat and Golkar, SBY – JK in particular, received negative reactions by the business community in particular. For common people, however, there were mixed reactions.

The organization machineries of Partai Demokrat are perceived to be not as strong as those of Golkar, either in campaign times, in the government, as well as in the parliament. PD won the legislative election against Golkar not because of its effective political and organizational machineries, but it was because of SBY factors. Hence PD’s intention to continue partnership with Golkar was quite logical. Golkar’s platform also matches well with PD’s as nationalist parties.

Golkar on the other hand has no chance to rule the country again, at least for another three general elections, and hence JK’s bid for presidency was seen as merely emotionally driven move and will be flatly futile, regardless how good JK is. Golkar will certainly have better chance and exposures to prove their commitment towards democracy and clean government when they are parts of the executive. Golkar’s bid to form coalition with PDI-P is a weak move, as it only gives benefit to euphoric PDI-P due to the break up, but no benefit at all for Golkar.

To me, with the current Golkar’s position, JK is finished. He should consider the party’s future, instead of pushing ahead with his personal pride, which seemingly considered as party’s pride as well. Even if Golkar can not take the VP’s position, it still can put some of its best cadres in the cabinet and play important roles in the country’s politics for the next five years.

For SBY, and the country, it would be much better for him to choose VP either from Golkar party or from a politically independent and nationalist person who have strong credibility among business community and people in general. Choosing VP from other parties will only weaken his position and chances in the upcoming presidential election.

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