---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ and click banner our sponsor ---------------------------------------------------------- KOLOM SUPANGKAT: KOLOM SUPANGKAT: THE CREATOR OF THE DESPOT IS READY TO CREATE ANOTHER ONE As far as I am concerned, the political situation in Indonesia in the foreseeable future is like an open book because of the following phenomena: 1. The rule of law, HAM, Justice as the basis of democracy is shaky at best, since the constitution, the penal code had been overtaken by the events but nobody seemed to care to make amendments to cope with current situation. 2. I am pretty sure that democracy can not possibly be developed into full fledged democracy as long as the present 45 constitution and the penal code are left untouched in its pre-Magna Carta era. 3. The 45 Constitution is a constitution in highly emergency situation, mainly to give the impression to the Dutch colonialism and the whole world that we have a legitimate government which deserved "de jure" recognition we needed badly to eradicate the "extremist" brand given by Van Mook. It was and it is not a real constitution with which we can govern democratically, eventhough it must be revered as a historical phenomenon to be displayed in the museum. 4. The 45 Constitution is a blank check for the President, he could write a check of US$ 40 billion for himself, he could rule arbitrarily like Sultan Agung of the seventeenth century, like Stalin, Hitler and Tenno Heika four decades ago, like Mao Xe Dong, or like Fidel Castro now because he has the legitimacy and the legalitity as as the Excecutive, the Legislative and the Judicative simultaneously. We have been through all this and vowed never again to be had by arbitrariness. However, we have done nothing to follow up our spirit for democratization. The 45 Constitution and the colonial Criminal Law as the creator of the dictator Su- harto is still here, ready to create another one perhaps even worse than Suharto himself, be it a lone dicatorship or a collective one. Apparently most of us still believe in the Ratuadil, the political, economic, social benevolent dictator. Is there a way to find out, even in our imagination or in the imagination of the paranormals that he is coming in the foreseeable future? There will be a lot of "false prophets", wolves in sheepclothes! H.S. Hidayat Supangkat New York. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 8 Mar 1999 jam 13:13:44 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
