Wimar Witoelar , JAKARTA | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:22 AM | Headlines
A friend of mine who is a seasoned political junkie emailed me the following message: "Hey, didn't you know Wimar? SBY won because of Glomar! The Triple-A gang of Aburizal, Agung, Akbar. Plus Sis, Muladi and others. That is why the total votes gained by the JK-Win ticket were less than the total share of Golkar plus Hanura." Hmm, interesting theory. So, is it true?
The answer is that it may not matter. SBY-Boediono's victory, while still unofficial, is convincing. TV host Dalton Tanonaka says the trouble with landslide victories is that there is no story. The election coverage was over on television six hours before midnight, when the English language program was about to go on the air. I have a different view. SBY's Part two resounding victory is a big story because it reaffirms our journey towards democracy and normality. Just like my latest blood test seems not be a story because it is again normal for the ninth month, good news are stories because in the past, bad news was the default news and bad news is the exception. There is a real story here.
With this new mandate, how will SBY govern in his second and last term? What will be his legacy and how will the nation move forward? SBY-2 will be better than SBY-1, but by how much?
Let us get back to reality and look at the theory quoted in the opening. How solid is SBY's victory? Is he now his own man, or is he beholden to politicians and tycoons who will divide the cabinet into little pieces of turf? He must feel indebted to the political parties and the coalitions he managed to invite on board, but hopefully he can separate the positive elements from the opportunists. The biggest mistake SBY made in his first term was giving significant space to partners of different ideologies facilitated by the pragmatic Vice President Jusuf Kalla. The President-elect now has all the time he needs to form the Cabinet. This time, he must avoid last-minute changes to give in to pressure.
An imminent danger lies in the temptation to form a coalition with his two defeated competitors, the Golkar party and the PDI-P. Embracing them will allay doubts about the new government's pluralist motive. It is too early to predict the PDI-P's position but the annihilation of the Golkar-Hanura ticket will hasten the Golkar Party congress. It is almost certain Jusuf Kalla will have to live up to his promise of pulang kampung, going back home. Akbar Tandjung and his proxies will negotiate their power sharing rewards for taking huge votes away from JK-Win and delivering them to SBY-Boediono. So SBY will have to weather strong lobbies from both small Islamist parties as well as the reinstated old Golkar. Further complications may result from people of questionable loyalty who have drawn closer to him as his victory became imminent.
Rather than remaining preoccupied with old-style Golkar politics, it is more useful to listen to independents supporting SBY-Boediono. These SBY voters regard the mandate given to President Yudhoyono as a mandate for reform. His vice presidential pick of Boediono, a man distinguished for his clean record and absence of political affiliations, is seen as an indication that SBY-2 is able to resist political pressures from coalition partners. "When he chose Boediono, that was the moment of truth. I hope he has the courage not to be pressured by politicians. If it works, he will have conquered his fear of politicians," is a typical quote making the rounds these days.
If he succeeds in accommodating political pressure groups, Indonesia will transgress domestic infighting and be ready to assume an international step based on vision and strength. SBY has the international vision to remake Indonesia into a big player in Asia and a voice in the world. Carrying the theme forward, people not involved in politics who are concerned about the nation hope to see SBY use his second term to refresh Indonesia's international role. Islam, democracy and modernity co-exist in Indonesia. Indonesia has the capital to be a moderate Muslim nation and now we also have the government.
Shifting our focus to the G8 summit held in Italy, we see US President Obama having trouble pushing through action on climate change. He acknowledges that it is hard to find consensus on this tough issue among 17 world leaders. He recognized the burden of example falls on the United States, by acknowledging the US is responsible for 30 percent world's climate change. But Obama says he knows the US has been guilty in the past of falling short, and he declares those days are over. From climate change to the Palestine issue and the human right abuses, Obama seeks to turn the US around.
Here in Indonesia, President-elect SBY does not need to turn the country around. He just needs to push forward a bit more firmly, consistently and convincingly. Indonesians will be inspired to re-energize the reform movement, allowing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to find a place in the sun for Indonesia as a global power and for himself as the political leader who brings Indonesia to the world.
The writer is a public relations consultant with InterMatrix Communications and the host of WIMAR Live, a public affairs talk show on Metro-TV.
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