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| SEMINAR
ON INDONESIA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST INDIES
The new era of reform Sixty years in the journey of this nation after our independence on 17 August 1945 has shown that it is indeed still far from the aspirations of our founding fathers. Therefore, there are many ways to measure “greatness” of a nation, among others, through the ability to adapt to changing times, adapt to new challenges, adapt to emerging trends and adapt to new terrains. Different countries adapt differently, but adapt they must. Those who fail to adapt will be swept by history. For Indonesia too, we can not escape the necessity to adapt and to change. The future of Indonesia should be an Indonesia that is able to withstand any recession, crisis, and various turbulent changes as well as that is prepared to face changes and is convinced of the necessity of international relations. At the end of the 20th century, precisely in 1998, following the Asian economic and financial crisis, a new generation of Indonesia began with strategic adaptation to global, regional as well as domestic challenges. This crisis had triggered the so-called “people power” and forced the incumbent President Soeharto to step down. Since that time, Indonesia has entered its new era, namely, the era of “reform” or “reformasi”. It paves the way the country on the path of democratic transition and has encouraged us to become a more democratic nation. Following the 1999 general election, the reform process has shown its preliminary progress. Within only five years, Indonesia has been experiencing with three different governments under former President B.J. Habibie, President Abdurrahman Wahid and President Megawati Soekarnoputri (the daughter of the late first President Soekarno). In reality, the process of reforms involves people’s demand and people wish significant changes in every aspects of their life through good governance. As the consequences, our 1945 Constitution was amended four times. There exist an agreement form all political forces to continue maintaining the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution as the fundamental tenets of our nationhood and statehood. Pancasila (the Five Principles) continue to be accepted as the ideology and foundation of out state and it has become the basis for the life of our society, nation and state. The new amended Constitution has given more chance for people to express their aspirations and demands, among others, through (i) general election for bicameral parliament (House of Representative and Regional Representative Assembly) ; (ii) direct election for president and vice-president; (iii) controlling the implementation of good governance; (iv) and other measures aimed at establishing a more democratic government, such as the establishment of independent election commission and Mahkamah Konstitusi (Constitutional Court). In 2004, the reform process toward a more democratic government reached its peak. The general election for members of the Parliament and the first ever direct presidential election have been successfully conducted in a just, smooth and safe manner. There are more than 50 political parties participated in the general election. And in that election, a great number of Indonesians voted for “change”. As the result of the three rounds of election in which each round was participated by 110 millions voters, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was elected as the sixth President of Indonesia and Jusuf Kalla (JK) as his Vice-President. With this number of people participating in the election, Indonesia can be considered as the third largest democratic country after India and the US. However, democracy cannot be built in a day time. We still need time to learn to be mature. But, Indonesia is a country that can change tremendously in so many different ways. The reform era has provided us with a new mandate to eradicate various deviations. We eradicate the abuse of power and authority, violations of human rights, corruption, collusion and nepotism. Reform does not mean that we overturn all the existing order. The essence of reform is continuity and change. Reform means reorganizing the statehood order towards a better direction. Upon assuming office, the new government of President SBY places its immediate priority to make sure that “change” be given direction to have a clear target and a clear plan for the benefit of the people. The so-called “Kabinet Indonesia Bersatu” under the leadership of President SBY and Vice-Presiden JK has set its “Rencana Kerja” (Work Plan) for the Medium Term Development Plan (2004-2009), namely: 1. To create an Indonesia that is safe
and peaceful; A safe and peaceful Indonesia We are determined to overcome separatism in order to preserve the integrity of our unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia as well as to build a free, unified and sovereign nation. In this context, the Government has conducted some measures to deal with problems and challenges with a view to create a safe and peaceful Indonesia.
Another big change happened on 26 December 2004, at around 8.30 am. It was the day after Christmas. Giant tsunami waves destructively swept the province of Aceh, and then made this region was never the same after that. The tsunami was the largest catasthrope
that a natural can bring and the worst natural disaster ever. In the words
of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, “it was an unprecedented
disaster which requires unprecedented response”. In Aceh alone,
it killed outright some 130,000 people; some 100,000 persons are still
missing that we presumed died; more than 500,000 individuals internally
displaced and homeless and 220,000 homes destroyed. To deal with this devastating humanitarian
disaster, the Government has set 3 (three) steps of efforts, namely: recovery,
rehabilitation and reconstruction, which will carried out within the period
of 5 (five) years. In this regard, a Master Plan for rebuilding Aceh was
established with the assistance the World Bank’s multi-donor trust
fund and bilateral mechanisms with donor countries. In this opportunity, allow me to express our appreciation and gratitude to the people and the Government of Jamaica for their spontaneous and generous contribution to the victim of tsunami disaster in Indonesia.
More importantly, the tsunami brought two kinds of impacts. First was the tremendous physical impact which destroyed much of Aceh coastal people as well as government and community infrastructures. The second is political impact related to the issue of separatist movement in Aceh. The tsunami has opened the eyes of both sides--the Government and the separatist rebels group (GAM). The physical suffering and the emotional agony was so tremendous that the Acehnese completely lost interests in the conflict, which brought no good what so ever to their immediate needs. For almost thirty years of armed conflict in Aceh, in which the GAM sought to separate Aceh from the unitary state of Indonesia through political and military means, various attempts to find the resolution of this conflict, either by peaceful or military means, were taken by the Government. But, negotiation a peace deal with GAM always deadlock. Previously, President Abdurrahman Wahid began the humanitarian pause with GAM in Geneva in 2001 facilitated by Henry Dunant Center. But this humanitarian pause crumbled. President Megawati Sukarnoputri resumed negotiations with GAM and succeeded in securing a “Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA)” in Geneva on 9 December 2002. However, the COHA process also failed by mid-2003, when GAM committed a series of violence which undermined the integrity of the agreement. That’s why, after the tsunami, the
Government realized that a window of opportunity was opening to rebuilding
peace in Aceh. After a number of back and forth process of negotiations,
GAM finally agreed to come to the Helsinki talks. And within the period
of 8 months and after five rounds of negotiations, which began on 28 January
2005 and it ended by the signing of MOU on 15 August 2005. This MOU was
a breakthrough in many ways because it brought the peace process farther
than ever before and resolved on a number of difficult issues.
The Government wishes to solve the issue of Papua in a peaceful and dignified manner by emphasizing dialogue and persuasive approach in the framework of the implementation of the special autonomy as a just, comprehensive and everlasting solution. The history of Papua as an integral part of the territory of our state is clear. We decline any foreign interference in settling this issue. The world bore witness to every negotiation on returning West Irian, until the conduct of the “Act of Free Choice” (Pepera) under the monitoring of the United Nations in 1969. The UN has recognized the outcome of this act of Pepera and never questioned it. Therefore, from the perspective of international law, we view that there is no more reason to doubt the legitimacy of Papua as an integral part of the territorial sovereignty of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. In line with our national policy, the special autonomy which has been granted to Papua is directly related to the efforts of settling this issue comprehensively within the framework of the unitary state of Indonesia. With the special autonomy, the Government will protect and respect the rights of the people of Papua to be equal in respect with all components of the nation. This policy of special autonomy has received international support. At the Summit of Pacific Forum States in August 2002, the Leaders of Pacific Islands States welcomed that policy by the Indonesian Government. Consequently, the struggle of the Papua separatist group which was conveyed to the Forum by delegation from Papua, Jakarta and Australia did not receive a significant response. In other words, the Leaders of Pacific Island States recognized that the issue of Papua is an internal matter of the Indonesian Government that needs not to interfere with.
Indonesia considers terrorism to be among the most important threats to international peace and security. Terrorism is a threat to our national development, to our human rights, to our cherished humanity and to our children’s future. We must prepare ourselves for a fight against terrorism that will be long, costly and difficult. In fact, even though we have arrested many terrorists and unveiled some of their networks, the terrorists continue to strike and indiscriminately harming our citizens. In the last three years, Indonesia has been experiencing with a series of terrorist attacks. After barbaric bombings in Bali in October 2002 and at the Marriot Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, just early this month, another suicide bombers attacked two well-known tourist spots in Bali. Based on the investigations of those attacks, we understand that our country is not just a target for international terrorists, but also the source where some of the planners, executors and supporters come from. We do believe that Southeast Asia, like other regions of the world, remains a potential breeding and hiding ground for the terrorists. We should assume that these kinds of attack will continue and could strike any of us at any moment and at any place. We must embrace ourselves for a vigorous effort in combating terrorism. There is always the possibility that terrorists will be re-grouping and are planning to have more attacks. We can not fight terrorist without addressing the roots causes which give rise to terrorists’ behaviour. Like separatist rebellions, communal conflicts, and sectarian violence, terrorism is a socio-political phenomenon that has casualties. Therefore, it is important to identify and to address the root causes of terrorism, such as poverty, social injustice, religious extremism, radical ideologies, political ambition or even personal grievances. At the national level, the Government will continue to increase its capacity to fight against terrorism and issues which are related to terrorism such as arms smuggling, money laundering, trafficking in persons and drug trafficking. The Government has enacted new Laws on Counter-terrorism (Law No. 15 and No.16 of 2002), which among others, provide much more legal basis to act against terrorism, including on the legality to use intelligence information and the procedures to detain suspected terrorists within the bounds of the law. We are also determined to promote bilateral and sub-regional cooperation to prevent and combat terrorism by making agreements with Malaysia, the Phillippines and Australia. At the regional level, within the framework of ASEAN, Indonesia has been actively participated in a number of regional initiative and cooperation with China, the United States and the European Union. Indonesia is also committed toward global war on terror within the framework of the United Nations by ratifying a number of international conventions on terrorism. A just and democratic Indonesia We are determined to enhance justice and law enforcement, eradicate corruption and carry out the reform of the bureaucracy and continue to solidify the consolidation of democracy. In this regard, the Government has carried out a number of programs in order to achieve a just and democratic Indonesia. a. Corruption Since the beginning, the Government has been determined to combat corruption. We consider that corruption as a serious crime that has brought suffering to the people and damaged the morality of the nation. Consequently, the Government has launched the National Movement to Eradicate Corruption on 9 December 2004. Subsequently, in order to accelerate the prosecution of corruptions cases, the Government established Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and “Corruption Acts Eradicating Team” (Timtas Tipikor), which will actively take law enforcement acts to government officials who committed to corruption cases. b. Institutional reform The Government continues to move forward with its institutional reform which is intended to strengthen the bureaucratic institutions in the course of building a clean, effective and efficient government. This institutional reform covers the improvement of the salary structure, improvement of the capacity and productivity and the increase if discipline and work ethos. c. The rule of law and human rights In the effort to restore the rule of law,
the Government continues to revamp the apparatus of the law enforcers,
the legal instruments and infrastructure in the context of upholding the
authority of the law. We are also determined to respect, protect and comply
with human rights, including by amending the 1945 Constitution which incorporates
articles of human rights. The Government just recently ratified two important
covenants in the field of human rights, namely the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights. d. Freedom of the Press and freedom
of expression e. Foreign Policy With regard to foreign policy, the Government continues to conduct the so-called “free and active foreign policy” which entails “independent of judgement and freedom of action”. In 1948, whereas Vice-President Hatta used the methaphor “rowing between two reefs” to describe our foreign policy. But, today, as we have safely passed the two reefs, President SBY has introduced the new metaphor “navigating a turbulent ocean” to describe the challenged faced by Indonesia’s foreign policy. Our diplomacy always strives for and prioritizes the national interests, while promoting peace and cooperation. Our diplomacy is also dedicated to secure the unity of the nation from threats of disintegration and strengthen the architecture of the concentric circle of regional cooperation, which hinges on ASEAN as the corner stone. Diplomacy should be able to closer between international and domestic factors—known as “intermestic factor”, by becoming the spearhead to promote national interests as well as to communicate the world development into domestic audience. Therefore, the Government forwards the approach of “total diplomacy”, namely diplomacy that involves all components of the nation in a synergy and to view the problems integrally. Conclusion We face many challenges, domestic as well as external challenges, but we are grateful that reforms and democratization are working. If we succeed in reforming ourselves, in attaining democracy and good governance, we believe that Indonesia will become a strong developing nation.
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