---------------------------------------------------------- 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: CAN FEDERALISM BE RATIFIED TO BYPASS DISINTEGRATION? The history of Federalism I am writing this out of sheer memory, I don't have a single document to sustain it. I hope my memory is still as reliable as ever. Federalism in Indonesia is still condemned as a colonial ploy since the Dutch forced Indonesia to accept it as a condition for colonial withdrawal, thus inde- pendence. Our leaders adamantly rejected the idea that the Netherlands grant- ed independence and they proved it by rejecting Federalism and restored the Unitary State. As a matter of fact, the Dutch had ruled the Indies for 350 years by way of Unitary State system and it suspiciously changed abruptly to Federalism at the time when we were de facto independent as a Unitary State. Our leaders easily identified the colonial ploy and sold it successfully to the public still hot in the spirit of independence struggle against colonialism. Yamin vs Engels in Parliament In the Parliamentary hottest debate between Mr Muhammad Yamin who defended the Unitarism and Engels *) who defended Federalism, the atmosphere was really very lively. Yamin appealed to emotionalism, Engels appealed to rationalism and both won on two different fronts. But we were prejudiced against Federalism any- way, so it was only logical that Unitarism won, not merely because the duo Suhar- no-Hatta were behind the campaign. Unitarism became a monumental accomplishment of our independence struggle, at the same time Federalism became a milestone of total defeat of colonialism. The good things in Federalism was buried deeply and never was made known to the young generations. But American educated political scientists looked it in a different way, they have been taught good Federalism of the United States. The new look of the elite Amien Rais and Nurcholish Majid are so far the proponents of Federalism in In- donesia. However, only a few bought the idea. It was a real hard sell given the history and the facts above. The situation has changed. Indonesia is threatened by the disintegration: fragment- ations, polarizations and antagonisms prevailed and was even disseminated delib- erately by the unidentifiable and very elusive "provocateurs". The sophisticated Army's Intelligence, the BAKIN and the Police detectives are good for nothing. There are already three provinces demanding total freedom after they became sick and tired of being "victimized" all the time for over two decades: Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya. And last but not least, Ambon is in the process of breaking up. Yet nobody seemed to be interested in Federalism or we were still too shy to talk about it. I have been a Federalist all the time but never in my life did I ever encounter a single soul who would even consider it for the sake of argument. I have seen a myriad of injustices being inflicted at will and systematically to the poor and less competitive people in the provinces by the system and its actors in the central government, even when some of them originated from the provinces themselves. They tended to forget their own homebase or constituency so to the speak once they are in the central government. Sometimes they are more "Javanese than the Javanese" in defending and perpet- uating the unjustified and excessive practises of Unitarism. I could write books after books longer than the Ramayana or the Greek epic. But could we convince them that Federalism is the new and only "raison d'�tre" for the troubled Indonesia right now? The long shot or mission impossible? Federalism has to be elaborated and approved by the next elected regime, and then ratified by the new MPR through the amendment of the 45 Constitution which was still revered as "the Tabernacle" by the true believer-politicians of the con- demned new order. It is either a long shot or a mission impossible. In the meantime, our multiple crisis is unabated, it is worsening to the point of incurability, perhaps even heading into the Intensive Care Unit? Can Federalism bypass disintegration given the long winding process through the dinosaur 45 Constitution that wouldn't be amended even by the next elected MPR whose membership included 240 government appointed representatives. Surely they will fight with their life if they are confronted with the tabooed Federalism. Did I hear them mumbling: If we couldn't get it, nobody will get it! Could this destructive attitude be behind all the provocations? Myopic insight seems to have defeated the good ideas to save the country from disintegration into chaos, anarchy, and heaven knows what. I am in no position to disseminate this information, I am nobody. But neither Amien Rais nor Nurcholish Majid can do more than talking to themselves. Quo Vadis Indonesian media and its journalists? H.S. Hidayat Supangkat New York. *) I was a cub reporter covering the Parliament 50 years ago. If not mistaken his name was Sahetapy Engels. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 3 Mar 1999 jam 10:35:36 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
