EXECUTING DEMOCRACY

ATTENTION CITIZENS: VOTING BANNED – SALUTING REQUIRED

Duncan Graham

The elected presidents of the US and Indonesia are destroying democracy.

Apart from bullying, hectoring and sharing meaningless slogans, the mad macho septuagenarians have little else in common.

Donald Trump is waging war on the civil service, facts and the rule of law. His tactics and results are so well known and analysed that repetition here is unnecessary.

Prabowo Subianto is demolishing democracy by using the armed forces of the world’s fourth most populous nation to return it to the vile oppressive order of his former father-in-law, second President Soeharto.

Like many arrogant men he’s driven by raw ambition and belief he’s the chosen one. He’s not a mimic or admirer of Trump, having no time for the irreligious womaniser and draft dodger.

Prabowo was trained by the US military and then banned for almost two decades for allegedly abusing human rights. That history rankles so he now prefers Beijing.

Since his 1998 divorce from Soeharto’s daughter Titiek, Prabowo has stayed single like his fashion designer socialite son and only child Didit Hediprasety. He lives in Germany.

The prez feels happiest strutting in the company of men in uniform. He’s made his 110 ministers and department heads wear fatigues and parade in public, a demeaning demo of his power.

Late last month he ordered 961 regional heads and officials – most elected – into a week-long boot camp at a military academy. Almost all were men in uniform.

Military command centres are being set up in all 38 provinces. They’ll have little to do except to spy, strut and extort. Indonesia has no external threats and the odd outburst of any independence movement should be handled by the police.

After the 1998 fall of Soeharto, Prabowo was sacked from the military for disobeying orders and fled to Jordan. He got back into Indonesian business and politics through the support of his billionaire younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo.

Prabowo, 73, was inaugurated president last October after winning the national election at his third attempt - scoring almost 59 per cent of the vote in a three-way contest by pretending to be a cuddly grandpa. He’s neither.

Older readers may note a similarity in images of Prabowo’s horseback parades with those of Italian fascist dictator Mussolini

To consolidate his power, he’s drawn in minor parties by offering government positions; his right-wing Partai Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement) now controls about 80 per cent of the Parliament.

With political opposition almost absent the vacuum has been filled by thousands of youngsters running Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia) street demos across the country.

Student protests helped topple Soeharto so polis are ever wary of mass movements. However, the current fist-wavers are mild-mannered amateurs compared to their white-hot predecessors last century who had effective leaders and international attention once the soldiers started killing.

There was an event in Melbourne last month with organiser Ulya Niami Jamson (below) , reportedly saying the protest focused on advocating for democracy, opposing militarism, and demanding improved welfare in Indonesia.

This year’s national budget aims to cut Rp306 trillion (US$18.7 billion). Voters fear hits on education, health services and welfare.

Despite local abhorrence of the term because it’s related to banned Communism, Indonesia is a socialist state. It has more than 70 State Owned Enterprises holding $600 billion in assets, equivalent to 52 per cent of the nation’s GDP.

The SOEs are involved in energy, telecommunications, minerals, plantations, transport, hospitality, manufacturing and building trains and planes.

The Asian Development Bank reports that “SOEs can squeeze out private sector competition, the use of SOEs to achieve policy aims may be inefficient and increase costs while worsening delivery.”

Much of the money from the budget cuts and profits from SOEs will slide into the new sovereign wealth fund Danantara.

The Economist claims the fund’s management will report directly to the President:
“Never before has so much of Indonesia’s wealth been placed at the discretion of one man.”

An alternative to cuts would be to cage corruption, the ever-prowling beast devouring the honest, savaging fair trade and terrifying investors like a demon in the cheap horror films that Indonesians love.

The nation ranks 34 on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, which scores 180 countries on a scale from zero meaning highly corrupt to 100. Top spot is held by clean, green NZ and the Nordic nations.

In the latest scandal, nine executives and traders with the State oil monopoly Pertamina have been arrested for allegedly diluting fuel and stealing US$ 11 billion.

Said Ulya, a lecturer on transgender and multicultural politics in Yogyakarta and a PhD candidate at Melbourne Uni:

"The reform and democracy of the Indonesian people, which were achieved through blood and tears, are threatened to be buried under Prabowo's militaristic, masculine, and paternalistic leadership.

“This was a warning sign of a repressive pattern from the past, where the military had full control over the political and social life of the Indonesian people. His masculinity and paternalism had the potential to marginalize vulnerable groups.”

Beware Prabowo, you have a brave critic smarter than all your sycophants. But no worries, she’s a civilian academic and a member of the 51 per cent so not to be taken seriously.

Yet.

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