(published by The Jakarta Post on 1 Mar 2011. Click here)
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) should take some advice from Winston Churchill: “In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.”
“One bullet is enough,” are the right words for SBY to consider in relation to his party’s losses in the Bank Century bailout case last year. The battle itself, where the lawmakers in the House of Representative voted to determine whether the government’s decision to bail out the bank was right or wrong was truly absurd. How can something deemed as the truth be a matter of a vote? They fought for a belief and spent a lot of time and money doing so, and then the outcome was nothing.
Today, everything is clear. After the House banged its gavel and stated that the government was wrong in its handling of the Bank Century bailout, so what? The noisy debate was only a reflection of their arrogance, and it was like they were asserting “who is more powerful than us?”. The winner of the vote was bestowed with Sri Mulyani’s departure to the World Bank, and nothing else.
And now that case seems to have evaporated. Last week, another bullet grazed SBY when the House again aimed at him with the tax graft inquiry proposal. Luckily, it ended in a failure, with 266-264 voting in his favor, after the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) jumped onto the coalition wagon.
We would understand if today we were surrounded by news about the possibility of SBY axing the Golkar Party and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) from the coalition. Such a move would not just be understandable, but imperative. These two parties have so far demonstrated very confusing movements in the eyes of the public. While we agree that coalition members should not always blindly support every government decision, what the two parties have been doing so far is confusing and unethical. This is not about which one is good and which is bad. This is about political trickery and we have become exhausted with such things. This is not creating a healthy democratic environment. If they want to be opposition parties, why do they keep brooding on the pond and enjoying seats in Cabinet? The people’s logical questions are as simple as that. “If they no longer feel at home, they can voluntarily leave and stay out of government,” a Democratic Party executive said.
We cannot trust such statements as, “While we are in the coalition, we should remain critical of the government because this is a people’s mandate” — as such parties often say. The PKS president said at the end of the three-day meeting in Yogyakarta on Saturday, Feb. 26, that the move should be seen as an implementation of the political contract to create good and clean government. Hmm, true or not? Let people judge.
Political analysts said SBY did not have the courage to expel Golkar considering the party’s power. But one thing is for sure: Golkar would be trembling if they were not in power. Can we remember when a Golkar executive said Golkar was not accustomed to being an opposition party, days after they lost in Presidential election?
We, the people, also see a lot of messiness in the government’s work, and should keep control of it, but we cannot avoid having suspicion that every move the two parties make is undermined by a hidden agenda for further political bargaining. “To uphold the truth and create clean government” is what lawmakers should be aiming at.
Now SBY needs to act quickly to take brave measures and kick these two parties out. Otherwise, they (especially Golkar) will become so conceited that they will fire a third bullet.
***
Serpong, Feb 27, 2011
Titus J.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) should take some advice from Winston Churchill: “In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.”“One bullet is enough,” are the right words for SBY to consider in relation to his party’s losses in the Bank Century bailout case last year. The battle itself, where the lawmakers in the House of Representative voted to determine whether the government’s decision to bail out the bank was right or wrong was truly absurd. How can something deemed as the truth be a matter of a vote? They fought for a belief and spent a lot of time and money doing so, and then the outcome was nothing.
Today, everything is clear. After the House banged its gavel and stated that the government was wrong in its handling of the Bank Century bailout, so what? The noisy debate was only a reflection of their arrogance, and it was like they were asserting “who is more powerful than us?”. The winner of the vote was bestowed with Sri Mulyani’s departure to the World Bank, and nothing else.
And now that case seems to have evaporated. Last week, another bullet grazed SBY when the House again aimed at him with the tax graft inquiry proposal. Luckily, it ended in a failure, with 266-264 voting in his favor, after the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) jumped onto the coalition wagon.
We would understand if today we were surrounded by news about the possibility of SBY axing the Golkar Party and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) from the coalition. Such a move would not just be understandable, but imperative. These two parties have so far demonstrated very confusing movements in the eyes of the public. While we agree that coalition members should not always blindly support every government decision, what the two parties have been doing so far is confusing and unethical. This is not about which one is good and which is bad. This is about political trickery and we have become exhausted with such things. This is not creating a healthy democratic environment. If they want to be opposition parties, why do they keep brooding on the pond and enjoying seats in Cabinet? The people’s logical questions are as simple as that. “If they no longer feel at home, they can voluntarily leave and stay out of government,” a Democratic Party executive said.
We cannot trust such statements as, “While we are in the coalition, we should remain critical of the government because this is a people’s mandate” — as such parties often say. The PKS president said at the end of the three-day meeting in Yogyakarta on Saturday, Feb. 26, that the move should be seen as an implementation of the political contract to create good and clean government. Hmm, true or not? Let people judge.
Political analysts said SBY did not have the courage to expel Golkar considering the party’s power. But one thing is for sure: Golkar would be trembling if they were not in power. Can we remember when a Golkar executive said Golkar was not accustomed to being an opposition party, days after they lost in Presidential election?
We, the people, also see a lot of messiness in the government’s work, and should keep control of it, but we cannot avoid having suspicion that every move the two parties make is undermined by a hidden agenda for further political bargaining. “To uphold the truth and create clean government” is what lawmakers should be aiming at.
Now SBY needs to act quickly to take brave measures and kick these two parties out. Otherwise, they (especially Golkar) will become so conceited that they will fire a third bullet.
***
Serpong, Feb 27, 2011
Titus J.
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