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f late, the national discourse has clearly been polarized: beneficiaries of the status quo who posit that all is well despite the bleeding current account deficit (CAD) and the glaring inequality on the one hand and those who maintain that the end is nigh, in denial of the progress made to address past injustices.

The hate mongers are having a field day, adeptly manipulating social media to split us further apart; senior members of the administration at each other’s throat over turf, while Lamborghinis and Rolls Royces roll along unfazed. Corrupt politicians are running amok, stealing from the poor who voted them into office.

Indeed, there remains very little civility in public life. In fact, Pancasila scholar par excellence Yudi Latif warned that our underpinnings have been so saturated with hate speech that one major social tremor could sink all that we have managed to build, leaving no trace behind, just like the Palu liquefaction.

Hence, I became increasingly concerned over the fate of the republic, until it dawned on me that it was no longer a matter of survival; the 17845 (Aug. 17, 1945) Republic that had liberated us was dead already.

The First Republic died along with perhaps hundreds of thousands of hapless farmers fighting for land in the aftermath of a botched coup by leadership elements of the Communist Party involving some military officers. The Pemoeda (youths) who had been in the vanguard of the fight against the colonial powers, held no reservations about driving out the ones who had inspired them in the first place.

In the two decades after Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed independence, the Pemoeda had acquired better education, and were now labeled as students. There was no consideration of Sukarno’s courage, tenacity, brilliance and stewardship, which had managed to keep the country intact despite the inherited regional inequalities and disaffected politicians who dreamed of a religious state.

No regard for the fact that he had instituted agrarian reform to address the core cause of our stark inequality and rampant rural poverty. Runaway food prices, political turmoil that eroded the power of his supporters and student protests placed him at a disadvantage.

The general he had entrusted to bring stability disowned him, and he languished in isolation before an early death. Nation-building appears to have been buried with him.

Soeharto, his generals and technocrats, after dispensing with the charismatic fighter against colonialism, became the darlings of the Western powers, because due to them the Cold War victors had managed to annihilate the formidable Indonesian Communist Party at virtually no expense.

Inflation was tamed, imports managed to contain food prices, and international economic advisors planned for Indonesia to “take off” in 25 years, ensconced in the Western camp.

The students were co-opted, nobody dared to question authority as tens of thousands of activists, artists and scholars were imprisoned without recourse to justice. Even development professors, who identified pitfalls. were arrested.

In later years, Soeharto disenfranchised former comrades who protested his use of state philosophy Pancasila for regime maintenance. The magic mantra of the Stabilitas, Pertumbuhan, Pemerataan (Stability, Growth, Equality) Trilogy was supposed to keep everybody happy, patiently waiting their turn.

However, stability from the barrel of a gun paralyzed grassroots creativity, hence when the time came for equality, small and medium enterprises (SME) were not able to escape the yoke placed on them by the magnates during the growth phase.

They managed to buy influence with their ill-gotten wealth, and turned against Soeharto, their erstwhile benefactor, when he demanded that they provide their employees with shares in their companies. In a repeat of history, economic woes ignited by greed almost brought Indonesia to its knees.

The students mounted massive protests, this time supported by concerned mothers and civil society. Soeharto’s overly ambitious ministers jumped ship, colluding with the IFIs (World Bank/IMF/ADB) to save the magnates (and their global lenders) at the expense of the common people. Ingratitude, sharper than serpent’s tooth, vanquished the mighty Soeharto, and with him the Second Republic.

The Third Republic had a congenital defect: collusion to let debtors off the hook while simultaneously embarking upon democratization and decentralization, without any regard for proper sequencing. It should come as no surprise that the much-touted “Reformasi” has actually been reduced by massive state recapture to “Deformasi”. The political bosses and regional elites are seeing this as their turn at the till.

Corruption has followed on the heels of the transfer of budgetary authority to the legislature and regional assemblies. Neoliberal trade and investment policies have decimated the fledgling industrial base, given rise to extractive corporate leaders living akin to the “Crazy Rich Asians”, whilst the conglomerate bailout from the state budget has contributed to stunting, both of below-fives and agro-industrial SMEs alike. Consequently, our value-added exports have not kept pace even with newcomers like Vietnam.

The collusion has transmorphed: Now politicians and corporate leaders are almost indistinguishable. Hate speech has fragmented the populace, and there is a valid concern that nobody will be able to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again after the 2019 elections. We have a well-meaning incumbent held hostage by vested interests who will not tolerate any major departure from extant policy, let alone a “mental revolution”. Thus we see farmers’ terms of trade deteriorating while billions are being poured into the countryside.

However, the revolutionary Pemoeda of yesteryear are now taking the form of “millennials”, not only better educated but with good business acumen and grasp of rapidly changing technology as well. Many of them have already begun to glean rewards from Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Thus, fear not the demise of our beloved country when the current republic plays out; the Pemoeda will once again be ready to reinvent the republic and address emerging challenges.

Perhaps, some “concerned citizens” could try to assemble a “toolkit” so that successive reinventions will bring the republic closer to its original intent of providing a place in the sun for everyone, irrespective of caste or creed. Anyone ready to step up to the plate?
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