Even long before the present government was sworn in, thoughtful observers were bracing for recurring political precariousness coming from the amateurish venture of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). But it was no less shocking when it happened.

It is the amateurish character of the PDI-P, the lunacy of political elders and the taciturn indecisiveness of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo that have made the first 100 days of the new government so unsettled.

What has been happening in recent days in the handling of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan'€™s candidacy for the position of National Police chief is the latest symptom of these three converging afflictions.

First, on top of the afflictions is the lunacy and narrow-mindedness of the PDI-P elders and other party oligarchs who have besieged Jokowi into a captive situation. After all they have gained from the election of Jokowi, why on earth have they not grown up into sane citizens? They knew that Budi was a corruption suspect. It doesn'€™t require any wisdom to cancel his candidacy.

These party elders and oligarchs seem to think that we citizens do not understand what is taking place behind closed doors. They think they can divide the spoils of their newly acquired power at their whim. They are wrong! From what has been flaring up it is unmistakably clear that they are displaying a farce of shameless, naked greed and short-sighted incompetence.

Then comes the institution of the police that remains as venal and shameless as ever. With their thriving interests and rascal-like exploits, the police are growing more reckless and smelly. They have a penchant for deflecting any demand to clean up their venal habits. The arrest of the deputy of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Bambang Widjojanto, on Jan. 23, was only the latest incident in the police'€™s long series of unchecked venality.

The ruckus was plain enough. The appointment of Budi as National Police chief would be serviceable to the likes of PDI-P chief patron Megawati Soekarnoputri, the Nasdem Party'€™s Suryo Paloh and oligarchs from the Red-and-White Coalition like the Golkar Party'€™s Aburizal Bakrie.

When the KPK moved to name him suspect in a corruption case, the police cooked up some case to arrest Bambang. No amount of excuses or explanations prevents us from seeing that it is a sheer reprisal. This sort of ill will is what the police have always put on.

What is shocking is that no one from the PDI-P stood up to defend Jokowi, who was then caught in a quandary. Worse still, the PDI-P even threw mud at the KPK by launching a personal and non-sequitur attack on its head, Abraham Samad. This is childish, moronic and confirms what many of us have long suspected '€” that the PDI-P is an amateurish party unprepared to govern Indonesia. If what the PDI-P official meant was to show that KPK people are no less dirty, the answer is plain: Even if they are no saints, we know only too well that they are less corrupt than you, Mr. PDI-P official!

Indeed, the PDI-P seems to have lost its way. It shows neither seriousness in combating corruption nor the basic dignity to transcend the interests of its narrow-minded matriarch and her gang. It is shocking that after being given a popular mandate the PDI-P remains trapped in self-defeating and self-destructing tendencies.

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"Mr. President, we expect you to learn fast and govern with authority and decisiveness, as you promised.

Second, it is against this backdrop that Jokowi has become a captive. Of course this by no means dispenses him from exercising his presidential authority and prerogative, independent of the parties that electorally brought him to the presidency. But here lies his shortcoming. He remains the best at the art of service delivery for the ordinary people. For those who voted for him, there is no need to regret the choice. But a series of ruckuses in the past 100 days clearly shows that Jokowi is too weak and naïve in the art of raison d'€™etat, i.e., acting on political necessities out of necessity. He needs to learn it, and learn fast.

I am sure that despite the cabal-style leadership now ruling the PDI-P, there are party members with some sanity and sensibility. They have been shut out from the inner circle due to the party power struggle and personal whim of its matriarch. They are close to civil society networks and less aloof than the PDI-P'€™s current leaders. The party leadership should call them and, if necessary, ask them to bridge the strain between Jokowi and the PDI-P as well as a growing chasm between them and civil society movements now on high alert.

The PDI-P has a high stake in the broad-based demands now waged by civil society networks. It is clear from the unfolding events that a growing number of good-willed citizens have lost their sympathy for the PDI-P, even if they still retain their thin faith in Jokowi'€™s presidency. If the PDI-P remains ill-willed, it is digging its own grave and will be voted out on all fronts.

And if Jokowi does not shift gears toward decisiveness and independence, a collapse of legitimacy is imminent even before his government starts governing. Mr. President, we expect you to learn fast and govern with authority and decisiveness, as you promised, that you would not walk in the shadow of any oligarchs and political rascals, including that of the PDI-P matriarch. Or else, you will soon suffer from the very popular movement that made you president in the first place.

Third, what has been unfolding in the past three months also reveals something heartening. It is the thriving life of civil society movements in Indonesia. This needs to be understood against the backdrop of their suffocation during the New Order regime. Their vitality evident in the run-up to the 2014 presidential election continues to nourish the civilizing process of political life in this country.

Of course we cannot expect them to act as the government, for indeed their task remains to offer critical voices every time the civilizing process of political life goes downhill. And what is happening in the current exploits to weaken the KPK is exactly the moment when the vitality of civil society networks is gravely needed. It is patently wrong that Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno called them '€œabsurd and childish people'€.

Mr. Tedjo, do you realize that your name (which means '€œglowing light'€) has now become a derogatory term for anything moronic, unclear and absurd? For instance, if someone says something in a convoluted way, we utter: '€œHe is very Tedjo!'€ Indeed, it is not civil society movements but these species of politicians, oligarchs, venal police and other rascals that have prevented the Jokowi government from starting to govern.

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The writer is a lecturer in the postgraduate program at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta.

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