Law
and mafia democracy
Budiono Kusumohamidjojo, FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY OF LAW
Sumber
: JAKARTA POST, 30
Januari 2012
Indonesia may not seem to have enough
problems in its realm of law. Imagine that youngsters and even school kids have
been accused of “stealing” a pair of old slippers, some flowers and iron rods,
or that a person who brawled with the son of a police officer became dragged
into police detention, was taken to court and would probably wind up in jail.
In other cases people are facing three years in jail for stealing three hens.
In those low-end cases, law enforcers didn’t seem to have much to do. However, big guys pronounced guilty by the courts of embezzling millions of dollars may get probably five years’ imprisonment and walk free after serving two thirds of their jail term if they behave. In such high end cases law enforcers didn’t seem to know what to do.
No sane human being would be able to conceive such a complicated legal theater in a republic with 240 million people. Like it or not, such is the map of the current legal situation in Indonesia produced by the almost 14 years of Reformasi that followed the Soeharto regime. While Soeharto’s clan was famous for being corrupt, now democracy is being used by mafia-like practices all the way down the aisles of state apparatuses. Mafia-like practices involved include deceit, corruption, bribery, extortion, intimidation, extra-judicial seizure, terror, etc.
The democratization process was supposed to strengthen Indonesia’s legal institutions. Watch what the country doesn’t have now: At the highest level we have the Supreme Court, now enhanced by an even stronger Constitutional Court that can rule which law runs against the Constitution of 1945. The Police Force which was put under the shadow of the Armed Forces by President Soeharto is now under the direct command of the President, which actually makes a President pretty powerful, provided the President understands it. The Attorney General must now be approved by the House of Representatives. And still, the Police and the AG office have become even more renowned for their massive corrupt practices.
Supposed to fight corruption, now there is a special Corruption Court and a Corruption Eradication Commission, which has turned out to be a daily spectacle for the media. And yet, after more than a decade of institutional reform the Indonesian people seem to get increasingly confused although also used to the daily drama they have to watch at the legal theater.
Most people are just amazed by the complexity of the soap opera being performed by shrewd intriguers, but still they understand that lots of foul play have been carried out by the players.
Nevertheless, don’t be misled, let alone be naïve, because Indonesia is a large country with abundant natural resources and 240 million people. Those who dare to govern this country with sanity and a strong political will would be praised for bringing decent quality of living if not welfare to their people. Yet those who merely want to rule and are capable of it would just amass enormous power and wealth, most probably for their own peers.
A process of democratization should actually bring about the involvement of the people’s representation in government toward the implementation of their consensus set as laws. The flaw may nest indeed in the circumstances of the people’s representation. If we elect daring, reasonable and conscience-minded representatives, then we may expect that we can trust that the country is in good hands.
The problem with general elections is that they are like shooting an arrow whose direction we can’t control. We can only regret later on if we elect poor representatives. The more abundant these poor representatives are, the more unfortunate we would be, which very likely is the case that Indonesia is now experiencing.
Rather than being on the path to building a strong democratic government, the danger Indonesia is being confronted with now is that it has to witness a mafia democracy in the making. The Free Online Dictionary refers to the classic term “mafia” generally to “a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities”. Although the techniques applied are by and large the same, the modern Mafia has a much more complex interest: political power. Because by acquiring political power one easily acquires the rest of what one wants to have, which seems to be exactly the stage that Indonesia is at now.
The biggest problem with mafias is that their interests run directly against the people’s interests and even tend to endanger the state. The danger becomes more aggravating because mafia-like perpetrators in Indonesia are now cleverly riding democracy as a vehicle. That’s why “Democracy Mafia” now seems to be ubiquitously permeating the social fabric and the government institutions alike.
Because Democracy Mafia is a process that involves infighting, in the better scenario it may end up in a dominating clan. If that were the case, then we might experience a powerful oligarchy that resembles no less than another form of dictatorship. In a worse scenario, ongoing head to head infighting would crumble the democratic institutions per se, which would lead to social disintegration.
To prevent both scenarios from coming true, Indonesia needs a selfless leadership with sharp mind and clear conscience, but also with decisiveness and strong stomach in order to deal with political adventurers who free-ride the democratic vehicle, as merely goodwill doesn’t count any longer. Hopefully such a leadership is still among the 240 million people. ●
In those low-end cases, law enforcers didn’t seem to have much to do. However, big guys pronounced guilty by the courts of embezzling millions of dollars may get probably five years’ imprisonment and walk free after serving two thirds of their jail term if they behave. In such high end cases law enforcers didn’t seem to know what to do.
No sane human being would be able to conceive such a complicated legal theater in a republic with 240 million people. Like it or not, such is the map of the current legal situation in Indonesia produced by the almost 14 years of Reformasi that followed the Soeharto regime. While Soeharto’s clan was famous for being corrupt, now democracy is being used by mafia-like practices all the way down the aisles of state apparatuses. Mafia-like practices involved include deceit, corruption, bribery, extortion, intimidation, extra-judicial seizure, terror, etc.
The democratization process was supposed to strengthen Indonesia’s legal institutions. Watch what the country doesn’t have now: At the highest level we have the Supreme Court, now enhanced by an even stronger Constitutional Court that can rule which law runs against the Constitution of 1945. The Police Force which was put under the shadow of the Armed Forces by President Soeharto is now under the direct command of the President, which actually makes a President pretty powerful, provided the President understands it. The Attorney General must now be approved by the House of Representatives. And still, the Police and the AG office have become even more renowned for their massive corrupt practices.
Supposed to fight corruption, now there is a special Corruption Court and a Corruption Eradication Commission, which has turned out to be a daily spectacle for the media. And yet, after more than a decade of institutional reform the Indonesian people seem to get increasingly confused although also used to the daily drama they have to watch at the legal theater.
Most people are just amazed by the complexity of the soap opera being performed by shrewd intriguers, but still they understand that lots of foul play have been carried out by the players.
Nevertheless, don’t be misled, let alone be naïve, because Indonesia is a large country with abundant natural resources and 240 million people. Those who dare to govern this country with sanity and a strong political will would be praised for bringing decent quality of living if not welfare to their people. Yet those who merely want to rule and are capable of it would just amass enormous power and wealth, most probably for their own peers.
A process of democratization should actually bring about the involvement of the people’s representation in government toward the implementation of their consensus set as laws. The flaw may nest indeed in the circumstances of the people’s representation. If we elect daring, reasonable and conscience-minded representatives, then we may expect that we can trust that the country is in good hands.
The problem with general elections is that they are like shooting an arrow whose direction we can’t control. We can only regret later on if we elect poor representatives. The more abundant these poor representatives are, the more unfortunate we would be, which very likely is the case that Indonesia is now experiencing.
Rather than being on the path to building a strong democratic government, the danger Indonesia is being confronted with now is that it has to witness a mafia democracy in the making. The Free Online Dictionary refers to the classic term “mafia” generally to “a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities”. Although the techniques applied are by and large the same, the modern Mafia has a much more complex interest: political power. Because by acquiring political power one easily acquires the rest of what one wants to have, which seems to be exactly the stage that Indonesia is at now.
The biggest problem with mafias is that their interests run directly against the people’s interests and even tend to endanger the state. The danger becomes more aggravating because mafia-like perpetrators in Indonesia are now cleverly riding democracy as a vehicle. That’s why “Democracy Mafia” now seems to be ubiquitously permeating the social fabric and the government institutions alike.
Because Democracy Mafia is a process that involves infighting, in the better scenario it may end up in a dominating clan. If that were the case, then we might experience a powerful oligarchy that resembles no less than another form of dictatorship. In a worse scenario, ongoing head to head infighting would crumble the democratic institutions per se, which would lead to social disintegration.
To prevent both scenarios from coming true, Indonesia needs a selfless leadership with sharp mind and clear conscience, but also with decisiveness and strong stomach in order to deal with political adventurers who free-ride the democratic vehicle, as merely goodwill doesn’t count any longer. Hopefully such a leadership is still among the 240 million people. ●
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