I’ve been spending a lot of time in my front yard lately. Not that I’m an avid gardener, mind you. I’ve mainly been on the lookout for downpours of frogs and lizards, talking trees, oozing red mud puddles, cohabitating street cats and dogs, or any other urban signs that the Apocalypse is upon us.
How can I not, given the latest head-shaking behavior of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono?
My fears began right after some senior cabinet ministers held a snap press conference to refute allegations from a coalition of prominent religious figures that the government had lied to the public.
Contrary to common sense, they even said that such an allegation was a slap to their integrity, credibility and honor — as if the government of one of the world’s most corrupt nations could claim such things.
Perhaps these ministers hadn’t heard some of the recent comments being made by their cabinet colleagues.
First there was Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring touting a new adherent (BlackBerry) to his non-existent Internet pornography filtering system, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa asserting that Burma’s November election was a sure sign that the country was moving toward democracy (even though the pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi was banned from participating) and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, who doesn’t feel that a Christian pastor being stabbed in the stomach by a Muslim extremist while leading a congregation in Sunday Mass counts as a religious conflict.
Then there was Yudhoyono himself, who asserted last Friday before the leaders of the Armed Forces and the National Police that there had not been a single gross human rights violation committed in Indonesia since 2004.
Well, I’m not going to call the president and his cabinet liars, because those religious leaders have quite publicly done so already.
And they were joined by human rights groups that went wild during the weekend in response to Yudhoyono’s comments, as did religious figures following Ali’s earlier claims about there being no religious conflicts in Indonesia in 2010.
It’s disturbing indeed to think about why Yudhoyono and Ali would make such statements when the facts clearly say otherwise.
Then again, government officials frequently make statements that go against the facts — and reality. Let’s not forget former National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and his reams of non-existent evidence against members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for bribery.
Back to the present, it’s worth taking a look at what this coalition of religious figures claimed were “lies” told by the government.
“Old lies” include the government’s inaction in the case of human rights activist Munir, the failure to uphold justice for the victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster and dishonest data published in a government report on the reduction of poverty.
“New lies” include the failure to promote inter-religious harmony, a lack of transparency in the resignation of former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and the unresolved investigation into the attack on an Indonesian Corruption Watch activist.
It would be fair to add the Gayus Tambunan corruption scandal to the list, and probably the Bank Century case, as well.
The list encapsulates the core problems facing Indonesia today: official corruption; collusion by government officials, prosecutors, police, judges and big business; impunity; lawlessness; and violence and intimidation against activists and reformers.
It’s an ugly list, and one that takes the luster off of Indonesia’s economic accomplishments and growing international stature, such as being a member of the Group of 20.
But are such memberships and 7 percent GDP growth worth it when the country’s democracy and anti-corruption drives have so clearly stalled?
Indonesia had another economic boom in the 1980s and 90s, but the nation is still trying to sort out the political and social problems that came with it.
It’s hard to do so when the country’s leadership is avoiding the issues. Given the allegations against the National Police in the past 18 months — framing KPK officials, torturing activists in Maluku, amassing huge bank accounts, helping to get Gayus off the hook, to name a few — it’s hard to understand praising statements from Yudhoyono. Same goes for the Armed Forces and its operations in Papua, which thanks to YouTube proved that elements of the military continue to engage in torture.
Of course, it wasn’t all praise.
The president ordered the military and police to end the practice of illegal markups — thereby confirming to the nation that its main security and law and order institutions systematically engage in corruption.
Shouldn’t the president have ordered the KPK to investigate these markups, rather than issuing an order that both the military and police will ignore?
The only redeeming factor in all this is that Indonesia’s dirty laundry is being publicly aired in the media, which is one of the success stories of Indonesia’s democratic transformation.
There are many other such success stories, and the Yudhoyono administration would be right to complain that it’s not getting the credit it deserves for helping make the country a better place.
Still, it’s hard to be gracious when we’re being told that Indonesia hasn’t experienced a single gross human rights abuse since 2004.
Or being told that Internet pornography is being successfully filtered when that is clearly not the case.
If only the information minister would realize that pornography isn’t among the country’s Top 50 pressing national issues, and focus his energies elsewhere, we’d probably have more villages connected to the Internet and better cell phone connections.
It’s hard to know what to make of Tifatul. At first the feeling was to get rid of the minister, as his antics have made Indonesia look foolish internationally. But in these uncertain times, he does provide a bit of levity.
I’m dying to ask him two questions, though: Is there a blue sky and smiley little marshmallow people in the anti-pornography world in which you live?
And if so, can I find the secret entrance to it in my front yard?
Joe Cochrane is a contributing editor for the Jakarta Globe. His writings appear at www.datelinejakarta.com