Jakarta - MAY is the month for anniversaries in Indonesia.
Today marks one decade since bloody unrest forced out strongman Suharto and began "reformasi" of a corrupt, feudalistic system. Yesterday was National Awakening Day, on the 100th anniversary of when medical students in Java formed a nationalist organisation that inspired the independence struggle. And last weekend President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono presided over the ninth birthday of racy newspaper Rakyat Merdeka — best known to Australians for caricaturing Alexander Downer and John Howard as dingoes copulating over Papua.
The party for Rakyat Merdeka, one of the aggressive publications that has thrived since the collapse of Suharto`s censorship, was on the theme "No Corruption!" Proceedings were irreverent and guests, including ministers, watched nervously for Dr Yudhoyono`s reaction to skits skewering current corruption scandals.
Central was the thinly disguised case of a top prosecutor arrested with the equivalent of $A700,000 at a home owned by a businessman who he had just dropped $3 billion fraud charges against. The prosecutor is in custody, but the businessman remains free and the Attorney-General refuses to re-examine his case.
Dr Yudhoyono appeared a little uneasy, but was soon clapping and laughing along.
That such a show could be staged for a president illustrates how far Indonesia has come in a decade of reform, but, taking the stage, Dr Yudhoyono was quick to admit it has a long journey ahead.
It was right to emphasise the "extraordinary challenges" of fighting corruption, he said, adding that "perhaps it needs 15 to 20 years until the system is really clean".
Reviews of "reformasi" are mixed, but high-profile scandals, a failure to charge military elites for abuses and not pursuing the king of the cronies, Suharto himself, masks the extent of Indonesia`s political transformation.
Once simply talking about corruption could see you jailed for treason, said political scientist Dewi Anwar. "Now Suharto`s son has been jailed, some ministers, some governors and we have an effective anti-corruption commission.
"Ten years ago Indonesia was one of the least liberal countries in the world. Today we have direct presidential, national and regional elections and a free press. The state no longer monopolises power."
Analyst Kevin O`Rourke, who wrote the book Reformasi, believes Indonesia is still transforming from an ingrained system of patronage and fealty. Direct elections make politicians accountable, although judicial and public service corruption remains entrenched.
The head of human rights watchdog Kontras, Usman Hamid, remains disappointed by the failure to prosecute Suharto — believed to have stolen up to $40 billion over three decades in power. "Corruption has become like termites attacking the new foundation of our house," he said. "We have to be grateful for what has been achieved in the last 10 years — the political freedom and human rights — but I guess we need more time to repair what`s been damaged for 32 years."
Some of those who braved beatings and bullets on the streets in May 1998 are disillusioned. "The situation today is worse than in 1998: we have more poor people today; more cannot afford to go to school," former student activist Syafiq Alielha said. "The only thing worth praising from reformasi is freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, basically freedom in politics."
Democracy in Indonesia seems here to stay. Although the military remains untouchable for past human rights abuses, it has pulled back from political influence.
And, as O`Rourke observes, Indonesia`s presidential elections are milestones in political maturity. In 1999 voters effectively chose a secular state over Islamic hardliners. Dr Yudhoyono campaigned against corruption in 2004. And the poll next year is already shifting to more conventional political territory: economics. Jobs, poverty and prices will dominate debate, as Indonesia`s democracy comes of age.
Source: www.theage.com (22 Mei 2008)
