Obama’s and SBY’s oaths

Kornelius Purba ,  The Jakarta Post   |  Sun, 01/25/2009 2:42 PM  |  Opinion

Although it does not have any legal impact, the US President Barack Hussein Obama decided to retake the 35-word oath of office Wednesday (Washington time) because Chief Justice John Roberts failed to recite the oath text correctly during the official inauguration the day before. (Obama repeats the oath after him.)

Obama retook the oath because the oath should be pronounced completely and also because he believes in the “sacredness” of the oath.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono never faced such an embarrassing moment, because according to the Constitution it is he himself who must read out the oath in front of the People’s Consultative Assembly.

And he did that perfectly on Oct. 20, 2004. And he has a good chance of repeating that in October this year, because so far he is leading in the opinion polls against his contenders in the next presidential election.

Obama’s oath is simple; Indonesia’s oath for president is much longer and complicated, as if Indonesia is more law-abiding than the US. The oath that Indonesian officials have to take before assuming office is much more serious and even threatening.

This is the US President’s oath. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”  

Bill Clinton was nearly impeached after having oral sex with Monica Lewinsky at the White House. I don’t know which part of the oath he had broken.

Compare that to the Indonesian president’s oath of office. “I swear by God to fulfill these duties of President of the Republic of Indonesia to the best of my capabilities and in the fairest way possible, to uphold the Constitution by all means and to execute all laws
and regulations as straightforwardly as possible as well as to dedicate myself to the service of the Nation and the People.”

According to international news agencies, the embarrassment started when Obama interrupted Justice Roberts midway through the opening line in the oath as Obama realized that Roberts had rearranged the order of the words.

Roberts should have said.”....that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.” But Roberts did not say “faithfully” until after “President of the United States.”

Realizing something was wrong, Roberts then repeated the phrase, putting “faithfully” in the right place but without repeating “execute.” But Obama then repeated Roberts’ original, incorrect version: “... the office of President of the United States faithfully.”....

While Clinton was almost impeached for his sex scandal with an internee, Soeharto remained untouchable until his death, although millions of Indonesians believe he had betrayed his own oath by allowing his children and cronies to enrich themselves by all means they thought necessary.

I do not know what the oath of an Israeli Prime Minister is. Did PM Ehud Olmert violate or faithfully abide by his oath and his country’s constitution when he ordered the brutal punishment for Gazans? PM Olmert halted the butchering of Palestinians on Monday.

Normally Indonesian officials – be it ministers, governors, mayors or other government officials – should tremble and be tearful, and no one should commit corruption and other dirty practices when they remember paragraph seven of their oath.

Let me cite some of them “.... directly or indirectly, at any situation or pretext, will not give or promise to give something to anyone ... that I will not receive any kinds of gift or present, which I know or I suspect that it is related to my occupation or my job... and that I will work honestly, orderly and energetically for the state interest.”

When Indonesian officials are truly religious and law-abiding citizens, the Transparency International Indonesia (TII) will not be able to issue their annual survey, which year by year always describes Indonesian officials, state institutions and government offices as very corrupt. In its report, issued on Wednesday, TII described the National Police (Polri) as perceived as the most bribe-ridden institution.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira is very confident that the findings of the TII are totally baseless.

But  millions of Indonesians will likely laugh at the two-star police general’s defensive statement that for the last several years police throughout the country have repented, and that Polri has been cleansed of dirty practices.

This week, perhaps there is no Indonesian media which did not report a single corruption case. This newspaper on its National Page reported that a professor of the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) was named a suspect in an alleged bogus research project.

But readers paid little attention, because it has become too routine in their daily lives. Look at the Pertamina fuel depot in Plumpang, North Jakarta.

The fire could have been completely extinguished on Monday. Should we blame corrupt officials for the fire?

The oath of a US President is very simple compared to ours. But how about the reality in both countries?

 

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