---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- KOLOM SUPANGKAT: THE TRAGIC FRAGMENTATION AND SELF-DESTRUCT OF THE SOCIETY DEMANDED A CHARISMATIC AND GENIUS LEADERSHIP We have been witnessing the fragmentation of our society that goes both vertically and horizontally for quite some time now. The internal conflict is in the making. It started vertically from intra-communities up to inter-communities within the local- ities of neighbourhoods, schools, churches, mosques, political elites, Muslims against fellow Muslims, Christians against Christians, then it escalated to greater conflicts of the indigenous people (Pribumi) against the Chinese minority. The last phenomenon seemingly unstoppable until now is the ethnic and religious war between the Muslims and the Christians in Ambon. Violence started from street fightings to murders, massacre, steadily. Violence among the members of Gereja Huria Batak escalated into the DGI (Dewan Gereja Indonesia) that compelled them to change the name, but subsided after the victory has accomplished by one group over the other. Violence among the Muslims resulted in the massacre of NU members in East Ja- va that Army's Chief General Wiranto labeled as a result of "political elites in Ja- karta" but little or nothing at all he could do about it. Muslims in the suburbs destroyed Churches, mainly belonging to the Chinese communities. At Ketapang Jakarta Muslims killed some Ambonese and people from West Timor, who retaliated likewise in Kupang and then in Ambon which escalated into an ethnic and religious war that seemed to be unstoppable until now. During Suharto's new order, the so-called unidentifiable "political elites" in Jakarta kidnaped anti-Suharto students, activists, even some 20 of them were mysteriously killed since they just disappeared without trace until now. And the government did practically nothing to investigate. The massacre of separatist Muslims in Aceh by the Army has become a stigma for the whole nation that consists of about 99% Muslims, more so perceived abroad than internally so that Christians and non Muslims the world over have the suspicion that if Muslims are capable to massacre fellow Muslims, and the Ambonese Muslims and Christians alike are mass murdering each other, they came to the inevitable con- clusion that Muslims and Christians alike in Indonesia are capable of doing these horrible things to one another at a larger scale sooner or later. Human Right Watch official Sidney Jones was terrified that she appealed for inter- national intevention. The religious and ethnic war in Ambon could spread horizontally to other parts of the islands like Kalimantan, Sumatera, even to Java itself where Christians mingled with the Muslims in many areas. Finally, Aceh, East Timor, now Irian Jaya demanded freedom from Indonesia. The national tragedy exploded because we have neither a strong political leader, nor a viable and contemporaneous political, economic, social system that would lead the nation to a transitional regime towards democracy, human rights, political, economic and social justice for all. Lacking the viable and contemporaneous social system, the society is left at the mercy of a vacuum at the inopportune time when there is an absence of a strong leader in charisma and in mind. In the aftermath of the revolution of October 1965 we still had a charismatic and genius leader Sukarno and the strong anti-Communist Army Generals, one of them was Suharto who filled up the vacuum in no time. We succeeded to escape chaos and anarchy. Suharto ruled as a ruthless dictator, fear managed to prevent the desire for better- ment of life, especially as far as political freedom and human rights are concerned. Now Habibie and the ABRI (Armed Forces) tried to fill in the vacuum left by the ruthless Suharto but they greatly lacked charisma and genius of leadership, at the same time they are compelled to implement the Reformation pledged nationwide. The latent desire of the common people for betterment of life in all areas which used to be buried deeply by the ruthless regime just exploded uncontrollably. However, the 45 Constitution and the Penal Code became dinosaurs being over- taken rapidly by these desire for betterment of life and political freedom. Indone- sians after Suharto became big fishes in a small pond, they were even aggravated by the economic hell. The most feared disintegration process has started, perhaps unnoticed or delibe-- rately brushed aside by the people in power in fear of losing control, only Amien Rais didn't fail to conceive it, eventhough he is a Javanese who are generally inclin- ed to defend "qoute que qoute" the unitary state like a.o. Megawati. Even the most intelligent general Hasnan Habib who is notably a Minangkabauer from West Sumatera refused to believe that the disintegration process has already began not too slowly but surely. Some people are praying for "the Ratu Adil", the political and economic messiah who would be able to overcome these crises but they are being sneered by Pre- sidential political adviser Dewi Fortuna Anwar and by the unbelievers. Time seemed to have come for us to substitute a strong and genius leader - who will never rise up in this generation or in any generation in the foreseeable future - with a collective leadership, the so-called Presidium. Everybody in the Reformation camp is qualified to be electected to the Presidium. Believe it or not, as far as I am concerned, there is no other alternative for the time being. Heaven knows how are we going to come above in a humanly possible way from the present quagmire which has reached up to our nose without a charisma- tic and genius leader? We must admit sincerely that our minds have been imprisoned in the dark dangeons of the merciless Suharto and his military regime, let us get away now! Quo Vadis Indonesian Political Scientists, Sociologists and Social Psychologists? I appeal to them to brainstorm this particular problem immediately unless they would let us down the drain unconsciounably. H.S. Hidayat Supangkat New York ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 1 Mar 1999 jam 11:59:00 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
