Ben Anderson's The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture once was a very popular analytical tool to explain modern Indonesian politics. In this regard, Soeharto's New Order government often served as the most favorite text and context. This is perhaps due to the fact that Soeharto was a politician who preserved and developed his power through, among other thing, spiritual endeavors. He was known to perform a certain spiritual purification ritual which affected his dealing with power. Power was therefore seen not only as a mundane or profane matter, but something which contained spiritual elements.
Today, Anderson's analysis may no longer be relevant. Observers rarely use it as an analytical armory. But the chaotic transfers of power in 1998-2001 - reminiscent of the sorrowful events surrounding the transfer of power from Sukarno to Soeharto in 1966 - encouraged many to take into account the intangible or immaterial aspects of politics that may steer the course of Indonesia's political development.
Many may not realize it, but when Megawati Soekarnoputri lost her bid for another presidential term to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the 2004 elections, some observers could not restrain themselves from raising the question why was it that in the end, the fate of all presidents was always surrounded by unpleasant circumstances?
Of course, as all the available scholarly works have indicated, this is something that can be explained rationally. Interplay between the economy and politics, which may involve domestic as well as international actors, is sufficient to provide an explanation of some kind.
Still, however, one can be easily intrigued by questions such as, why all? Were they all that bad when entrusted with the enormous power to manage the country?
The answer is, of course, no. Sukarno was a person who spent all his adult life in the service of Indonesia's wellbeing. Not only that, he was the country's first president, but long before that, he was the most notable of the avant-garde to wage the archipelago's sense of nationalism to fight colonialism and bring Indonesia to independence. But in the end, only bitterness colored his life, even as a common citizen: He was implicated, directly or otherwise, with the 1965 failed coup, his power was stripped off him by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), he was put under house arrest - unable to communicate with the outside world.
His successor, Soeharto, was more or less the same. That is, in the sense that, like Sukarno, Soeharto also dedicated his adult life for the betterment of Indonesia. For years he was in the military service, responsible, among other things, in making West Irian part of Indonesia' unitary state. For more than three decades he served as Indonesia's longest president, which enabled him to develop the country's economy. And yet his final years were severely unpleasant: being charged with corruption, tried, and, sadly, only his declining health saved him from undergoing further trials.
B.J. Habibie did not suffer the humiliation experienced by Sukarno and Soeharto. But in the end, his devotion to Indonesia's technological and industrial development, his obsession to make the country a modern state in its truest sense, was met by the fact that his leadership was politically unwanted. His very short term in office was a relative success, but in the MPR meeting in 1999, his accountability speech was narrowly rejected.
Abdurrahman Wahid's presidency was full of controversies. At the beginning of his presidency, hopes ran high - regardless of his physical limitations. He was considered as the only person who could heal the country and unite the fragmented elites. Poor political judgment on his part made him the second president ever to be impeached by the MPR. After less than two full years in office his presidency was nullified and handed over by the MPR to Megawati.
Megawati did not experience political bitterness like Sukarno, Soeharto, or Wahid. But she was defeated twice, once by her minister, Yudhoyono. The latter beat her fairly and squarely in the 2004 and 2009 presidential elections - something that is normal in politics. But for some reason, and only the two know exactly why, since then their relationship has gone sour.
These sad realities, especially in the course of the transfer of power from one president to the other, has encouraged many to see the power interplay in the light of the intangible aspect of politics. One speculation was that perhaps the timing of the birth of an independent Indonesia was not correct. Therefore, the country is in great need of being spiritually healed (ruwat).
Of course, one need not take such speculation seriously. Muslims in particular would have a different perception with regard to the date of birth of the Republic of Indonesia. The country's independence was proclaimed on Friday, Aug. 17, 1945. This coincided with the holy month of Ramadan - a period when Muslims are obliged to fast. How could such time be considered as inappropriate for the declaration of independence of the Republic?
What needs to be emphasized here is not whether the country requires some kind of spiritual energizing so that it will move in tandem with the cosmic law of nature. What is important is that the cycle of unpleasant circumstances, or perhaps even political destinies, experienced by all of our former presidents, be broken.
Yudhoyono has the chance to break that cycle. He has been able to avoid the cycle during his first term in office. Nobody knows what will happen to the second term of his presidency - something that resembled the experiences of both Sukarno and Soeharto where they could not predict what might happen, after the former being crowned as the president for life and the latter being the father of development.
I think Yudhoyono will be able to break the cycle provided that he works solely for the interests of the people. In that respect, he should prioritize his agenda for the next five years. Three of his top agenda items seem to match with the public demands - economic development; democratic politics and law enforcement.
What remains to be seen is whether his Cabinet members are able to understand those issues and put them in the context of policies that serve the interests of the people. Otherwise, history is waiting to repeat itself.
by Bachtiar Effendi
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/30/sby-and-future-presidency.html
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