Where Are We Heading With Independence?
Amid the impacts of the pandemic, it is very relevant for us to continue to remember the historical awareness in the context of the colonial realm versus the realm of independence as a universal dichotomy.
“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” So wrote the Indian novelist Arundhati Roy about the meaning of the COVID-19 pandemic (Financial Times, 3/4/2020).
This pandemic, for her, calls us to leave the world of “a doomsday machine that we have built ourselves, […] the wrecks of prejudice and hatred, greed, data banks and dead ideas, dead rivers and sooty skies” .
She encourages us to “step lightly into the future […] ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it."
Welcoming the 76th anniversary of our nation\'s independence, I am urged by Roy to also look at this COVID-19 pandemic as a portal but not to look for a new dream of the future.
Reflection moment
For me, our nation’s dream for the future has been firmly contained in Pancasila as a national philosophy, as well as the noble foundation of the goals of our independence. Here, the pandemic portal is more interpreted as a moment of reflection to reexamine our journey as a nation: Where are we heading with independence?
Amid the impacts of the pandemic, it is very relevant for us to continue to remember the historical awareness in the context of the colonial realm versus the realm of independence as a universal dichotomy. To borrow the words of Soedjatmoko: "Historical awareness leads [us] to an understanding of [our] sangkan paran [existence] as a nation, to the question of what we are, why we are what we are."
It is only through an understanding of sangkan paran that we can maintain awareness of the ideals, honor and dangers that we face from time to time as a nation-state. If Ernest Renan states that "a nation is a daily plebiscite", we can say that "freedom is a daily reckoning."
Also read:
> Remembering Bung Karno, Remembering Bung Hatta
In every country that is more steadfast in upholding justice for all its citizens, independence will progress more toward the development of civility. However, in any country that abuses justice more, independence will regress more toward savagery.
In the first alternative, we usually talk about betrayal of independence, because here the frequency of cases of betrayal of the goals of independence is still within normal limits. In the second alternative, we have to talk about the independence of betrayal because here betrayal has increasingly become the standard of behavior of state administrators.
We are really grateful that amid a pandemic, our people are still busy and persistent in showing their commendable services, including five “savior angels” far away in Yalimo regency, Papua, and the “sweet” product in the form of high-flow breathing device that is manufactured by national research industry (Kompas, 9/8/2021). Among the state executives, we see the President, a number of ministers and regional heads continually proving their responsibility to deal with the pandemic.
There are ministers whose pace of work has been high since the beginning of the pandemic, those who have been exposed (to COVID-19), ministers who without hesitation take motorcycle taxis to red zones and remote locations, as well as ministers who continue to work hard with special authority and integrity while not forgetting to pray.
However, we are shocked by the corrupt behavior of former social affairs minister Juliari Batubara, related to the social assistance funds that was allocated for the pandemic relief program amid the suffering of the nation.
Then, the injustice against the 75 employees of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) committed by KPK leaders and the State Civil Service Agency (BKN); the overthrow of independence, freedom and care at the top of the academic world — the faithful guardian of the voice of truth and justice throughout the period of independence; indictments against justice activists through the “rubber articles” of the Information and Electronic Transactions Law (UU ITE); the severity of the gap between the people\'s aspirations for justice and the treacherous behavior of some members of the House of Representatives.
Also read:
> Nationalism Sans Nationalism
Likewise, the series of sentences or sentence demands that are lack of integrity from judicial institutions given in the cases of state prosecutor Pinangki, corruptor defendants Joko S Tjandra and Edhy Prabowo. Indonesia Corruption Watch noted that during 2019-2020, "at least 22 corruption convicts had their sentences reduced by the Supreme Court".
In retrospect, almost four decades back, we can at least point to three causes of the increasing independence of betrayal that are closely intertwined.
First, mega-impunity in the years of the transition from the New Order to the Reform era (1998-2003). Second, the deideology and impoverishment of political enlightenment among the political parties so as to broaden the characterless nature in politics, just like chameleon.
And third is the legislative practice of the House, which is poor in authority and integrity, poor in substance, poor in deliberation and bankrupt of legitimacy.
Political impunity
Political irrationality breeds political impunity. First and foremost is the practice of impunity against the series of mega-corruption and massive crimes against humanity in the New Order regime. Our country is being led toward independence of betrayal because its administrators fail or refuse to recognize impunity as an illusion — as self-deception.
Not a few high-ranking officials in our country in the three branches of government, from the New Order to the Reform era, have a vision that is too limited to understand the work of psycho-political law, namely any impunity in governance operations will bring about a revival of violent practices that are “approved”, which actually bring multiple destructive powers.
The greater the weight of impunity, the greater the destructive power behind it. The greater the impunity, the more it returns with an even greater vengeance. And the perennial political dictum regarding the state is at work here; the state, if properly managed, will become the greatest civilizing power. However, if managed otherwise, it will become the greatest savage force. This is because the state is the sole holder of coercive power and all national economic and political resources. Our nation has witnessed both sides of the equation.
In comparison, it is this great concern over impunity that has made the Democrats in the United States Congress these days continue to fight for a bipartisan investigation into the 6 January uprising on Capitol Hill.
Also read:
> Breaking the Chain of Political Vulgarization
The erosion of ideological standards and noble political principles among parties is a direct result of the avalanche of impunity for the series of mega-corruption and massive human rights violations under the New Order.
Second, the four amendments to the Constitution and the establishment of supporting institutions for the democratic system are indeed the real achievements of the Reform movement. However, with the New Order\'s personnel and political machinery intact in the Reform era, what is imminent is a long competition, a long tug-of-war that is increasingly unequal between the reality of the New Order praxis and the ideals of the Reform praxis.
The change in the epicenter of power from the executive to the legislative under the dictatorship or hegemony of the New Order political machine practically makes all political parties founded in the Reform era contaminated by the practice of justifying the New Order model. In addition, dynastic politics and "family politics" brush aside the demands for regeneration and internal democratic selection mechanism within a party and ignore the activation/aggregation of enlightened political ideas in the party.
In sharp contrast to the character of the party throughout 1912-1960, the various bad qualities in our political party sphere, especially in the Reform era, has led to the recruitment of executives in the three branches of government and was the main booster of what we call "independence of betrayal".
Third, the severity of poverty of integrity and authority, the lack of deliberation and the lack of attention to the principles of procedural legitimacy and substantial legitimacy in the preparation, stipulation and revision of laws. That is what happens to the ITE Law, the KPK Law, the Minerba Law and the Job Creation Law. The first three are the result of revisions. These four laws were passed during the Jokowi administration.
With these two major flaws in the practice of legislation, all four will have the potential to have a direct impact on undermining the actualization of our national independence goals. The ITE Law (2016) gives privileges to the power holders by fortifying them from criticism and public scrutiny, denying the necessity of joint control over the exercise of power for the sake of implementing clean and accountable government.
The KPK Law (2019) denies the fact that the magnification and accumulation of corruption robs many citizens of their rights for decent and fair treatment in various fields. The crescendo of corruption immediately impoverishes; erode people\'s empowerment, creativity and hope; erode the morality of government; undermine national solidarity and nobility.
The Minerba Law (2020) makes it easy for the destruction of the environment and the continuity of ecological conservation, which should be persistently maintained as part of the "living needs of the people" for quality and long-term economic productivity for the welfare of the nation across generations.
The Job Creation Law (2020) stands on the assumption that investment can do no wrong and that the threat of deforestation, the rights of workers and women to live decently and have a future — all three are included in the universal prescriptions of developed countries — may be ruled out.
The four laws are a manifestation of the separation of the state from the nation and, of course, both are the main indicators of independence of betrayal. The KPK Law (2019) is full of treacherous intentions and contents against the necessity of a clean and accountable government. The Job Creation Law summarizes the broadest and most ambiguous and problematic statutory powers in terms of procedural validity and substantial validity.
Also read:
> Explanation from KPK Leadership Needed
It is also marked by a lack of academic readiness, limited deliberation and the haste for ratification, including the illegal behavior of changing the contents of the law after it was ratified by the House. The absence of substantial legitimacy can be seen in the clashes or conflicts with a number of other laws, the accumulation of tyrannical behavior toward workers and women, or their contradictions with the principles of civility in international labor issues (ILO Conventions, the Confederation of International Trade Unions and dozens of international investment agency).
Inevitably, the Job Creation Law has the potential to be the biggest contributor to the betrayal of our independence goals. If the main purpose of this law is to facilitate investment plus employment opportunities, to apply legal certainty in the business world and to implement our ideals of independence, it has the greatest chance of canceling and betraying all of them.
Reversing betrayal
Here, we should again quote Bung Karno\'s soft warning 58 years ago regarding "a nation that at first tried to live again as a Nation, eventually returned to being [...] \'een natie van koelies en een koelie onder de naties\' [a nation of coolies and a coolie among nations]”.
Where are we heading with independence? It has been 56 years since the New Order and our nation has been led into a continuous regression from our ideals of independence so that it has become a mounting challenge. However, for hundreds of years, our nation has been force-fed and forced to believe that independence is an impossibility. And our nation stands up to negate it.
Now, can we reverse that betrayal of independence?
God has bestowed upon us special national assets: a dignified national language, a strong fighting tradition and a glorious history of the independence movement and revolution. The founding fathers of this nation were of commendable character and enlightened insight; the tradition of helping each other in cultural and religious diversity and the ideals of Pancasila, whose historical roots go back hundreds of years with a progressive political vision that reaches far into the future.
With the internalization of all that capital, the value of which is indescribable, the question is surely not “Can we?” But “Are we willing?”
Mochtar Pabottingi. Scholar on Nationhood and Democracy
This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswoko.