Look before you leap, sirs

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/23/2007 10:00 AM | Opinion

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta

Past experience suggests it's best people here do not mess around with the military, especially the generals, because there are usually consequence if the generals are unhappy.

Likewise, more recent experience tells us not to look for trouble with politicians.

So can anyone imagine what happens when (retired) military generals are angered by politicians?

These days, political parties, no matter how small and insignificant, have die-hard supporters and, most of all, they have one thousand different ways to stage-manage their opponents. Here, politicians have an unthinkable power to right the wrong and to wrong the right.

The recent confessions by two retired Army generals -- Maj. Gen. Djasri Marin and Maj. Gen. Slamet Kirbiantoro -- that they transferred billions of rupiah to political parties in a bid to be named a Jakarta deputy governor candidate for the August poll only confirmed this power.

Djasri said he spent Rp 2 billion (US$220,000) on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP) to secure nomination as governor candidate Fauzi Bowo's running mate.

It is all relative, but with Rp 2 billion you could build three modest schools, fully furnished. Or build a cooking oil factory. But Djasri invested the money in a bigger dream; to fight for a better future for ""the city"".

Slamet said he paid a total of Rp 1.5 billion to several parties during the nomination process to secure a spot as Fauzi's running mate.

With that amount, Slamet could have set up a moderately sized coconut plantation to supply Djasri's factory, so together they could have produced affordable cooking oil for poor residents caught up in the current cooking oil crisis.

But the two generals wanted to invest their money in politics. Regardless of one's intentions, holding power is more tempting and sweet, especially in Jakarta, the center of the country's evolving economic and political worlds. Holding power can mean jobs for the boys, kickbacks from here and there, and respect and fame everywhere.

No wonder even retired generals are willing to spend so much money to be second in line for all that sweet and tempting stuff.

However, at the end of the long political process, or the ""democratic process"", as they like to say, neither general won the nomination as Fauzi's running mate. That honor instead went to another major general, Prijanto, a former territorial assistant to Army Chief of Staff Djoko Santoso.

If that's too ""general"", it probably wouldn't make any difference if Djasri or Slamet never served in the military. The story could just as well be about businessmen who employed thousands of people. When angered they would also deploy their ""people"" to intimidate opponents. But that's not the case, really.

Time has changed when even military generals can fall victim to political parties.

On the other hand, political parties have shown their true face as money makers, thus educating the people and potential voters to be extra cautious when dealing with them.

Debatable, but it is possible that people have begun losing faith in political parties. Recent protests demanding independent candidate be allowed to contest elections are proof that more people want leaders who have no affiliation with political parties.

Back to the generals. One of the many lessons that can be drawn from the confession of the two retired generals is that the practice of democracy here is still far from what the public thought it would be, or how it is in other countries.

In democracy, the strong ideally speak for the weak, and give voice to the voiceless. They don't just look out for those with money and forget about everyone else.

What happened to Djasri and Slamet certainly could have happened many times before to many people. It's just that these other people would rather keep quiet rather than washing their dirty laundry in public.

The generals complaining about the political parties is like a junky filing a police report because his dealer sold him some bad shabu-shabu.

""Officer, I want to report A for selling bad crystal meth. It wasn't good at all. You must get him, sir. Here, I brought what's left of the shabu-shabu. Try it.""

""OK, no sweat,"" the officer would perhaps reply, while getting out his handcuffs to slap on the junky.

But somehow it's a good thing -- and a bit appalling -- that Djasri and Slamet wanted to share their misfortune, to help the public see that politicians and political parties exist for anything but the good of the public.

Now, the should've, would've and could've won't help get back the money. So, a bit of humble advice, generals: Next time, look before you invest, laah.

The author is a staff writer with The Jakarta Post.

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