continuation of
LIBERATING OUR COLONIAL MINDSET
that only Muslim Javanese military males could even be considered as candidates for the presidency, should also be abolished.
Thirdly, Indonesia's citizens and residents should have the right to be ruled by a civilian government, with maximum protection against the collusion between business (private) and public interests, a government which is accountable to the citizens through periodical elections as well as through unperiodical referenda in matters which effect the public welfare.
Conclusion
Finally, as a way of conclusion, allow me to paraphrase from Albert Memmi's classic (12), which I think it quite appropriate to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Indonesia's attempt to become an independent nation-state:
. . .colonization materially kills the colonized. It also kills him or her spiritually. Colonization distorts relationships, destroys or petrifies institutions, and corrupts men and women, both colonizers and colonized. To live, the colonized needs to do away with colonization. To become a man or woman, he or she must do away with the colonized being that he or she has become. If the European must annihilate the colonizer within himself or herself, the colonized must also rise above his or her colonized being.
So the question arises then: after fifty years, have we as Indonesians risen above our colonized being, or have we become colonizers ourselves ? Not only colonizers of another people who did not share the same historical heritage as us, but also as colonizers of our own peoples ?
Fremantle, August 15, 1995
Footnotes
(1) In fact, these are the legal instruments which the "New Order" is actually using more and more to crack down on dissidents from all walks of life in Indonesia, recently -- trade unionists, journalists, academics, etcetera.
(2) There is a strong pro-Java & Sumatra bias in the Anglophone Indonesian historiography, especially the focus on the era of the Indonesian modern independence struggle. One tends to forget, that the Makassarese of Gowa were only pacified, through the Bongaya treaty, in 1905. Apart from Eastern Indonesia, the independence struggle carried out in Kalimantan has also been overlooked by many Anglophone historians. This bias is probably caused by the fact that many of the East Indonesian and Kalimantan independence fighters, such as Kahar Muzakkar, Andi Mattalata, Sam Ratulangie and his daughter, Zus Ratulangie, and Tjilik Riwut, began their struggle from the bases in Java, due to the colonial centralistic state in Java, before eventually moving to their places of origin. The late Tjilik Riwut commanded the Air Force and Navy units which attacked the Dutch military posts in South and Central Kalimantan. because of his close connections with Sukarno, who was also an admirer of the Air Force, he was later appointed as the first governor of Central Kalimantan, one of the three Dayak governors before a series of Javanese governors ruled Central Kalimantan, until now.
(3) We should not forget that during the BPKI debates, some of the founding fathers of the Indonesian Republic also opted for a federalistic state, namely Mohammad Hatta and GSSJ (Sam) Ratulangie. They were overruled by the majority of the BPKI members, which were obviously so much obsessed with unity, that they feared federalistic state would certainly work in favour of the Dutch divide and rule tactics.
(4) Currently, democracy stirs have already become stronger in this Malay Muslim monarchy, which Azahari and his Partai Ra'yat Brunei wanted to reform in the early 1960s. However, PRB is still banned and recently its former executive secretary, Haji Zaini Haji Ahmad, has been detained. Hence, another light needs to be put on this aborted revolution, instead of putting PRB -- and especially its former chairperson and founder, Azahari -- simply as a "puppet" of Sukarno's expansionistic dreams to take over the former British colonies of Northern Borneo. For a better picture of this aborted revolution and its aspirations, see Zaini Haji Ahmad's book, Partai Rakyat Brunei: The People's Party of Brunei, Selected Documents/Dokumen Terpilih. Kuala Lumpur: Insan; Graham Saunders, 1994. A history of Brunei. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press; Bill Tarrant, "Reform hopes rise as democracy stirs in Brunei", The Australian, May 26, 1995; and
(5) When the report on the "Act of Free Choice" was debated in the UN in November 1969, it was approved by 84 UN members, with 30 abstentions, most of them from Africa and the Caribbean. Support for Indonesia came mainly from the Western countries, which could not wait to invest in West Papua's wealthy natural resources, and from Arabic countries, which wanted Indonesia's support in their confrontation with Israel over the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. For a detailed report about the way the "Act of Free Choice" was carried out, and how it was approved in the UN, see Robin Osborne, 1985, Indonesia's secret war: The guerilla struggle in Irian Jaya. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, pp.40-52; and George J. Aditjondro, 1993. Bintang kejora di tengah kegelapan malam: Penggelapan nasionalisme orang Irian dalam historiografi Indonesia. Paper presented at a seminar on Indonesian nationalism in the wake of the 21st Century, organized by Yayasan Bina Darma at the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, June 2-5, 1993.
(6) See Tim Kell, 1995. The roots of Acehnese rebellion, 1989-1992. Ithaca: Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.
(7) Currently in Indonesia, the regressive colonial laws are being glorified by the regime, while the progressive Hinder Ordinance is often overruled by the new environmental regulations which take away the power from the citizens and the local communities and hand it over to the bureaucrats and their professional consultants, thereby favoring "expert-ocracy" over democracy.
Thirdly, Indonesia's citizens and residents should have the right to be ruled by a civilian government, with maximum protection against the collusion between business (private) and public interests, a government which is accountable to the citizens through periodical elections as well as through unperiodical referenda in matters which effect the public welfare.
Conclusion
Finally, as a way of conclusion, allow me to paraphrase from Albert Memmi's classic (12), which I think it quite appropriate to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Indonesia's attempt to become an independent nation-state:
. . .colonization materially kills the colonized. It also kills him or her spiritually. Colonization distorts relationships, destroys or petrifies institutions, and corrupts men and women, both colonizers and colonized. To live, the colonized needs to do away with colonization. To become a man or woman, he or she must do away with the colonized being that he or she has become. If the European must annihilate the colonizer within himself or herself, the colonized must also rise above his or her colonized being.
So the question arises then: after fifty years, have we as Indonesians risen above our colonized being, or have we become colonizers ourselves ? Not only colonizers of another people who did not share the same historical heritage as us, but also as colonizers of our own peoples ?
Fremantle, August 15, 1995
Footnotes
(1) In fact, these are the legal instruments which the "New Order" is actually using more and more to crack down on dissidents from all walks of life in Indonesia, recently -- trade unionists, journalists, academics, etcetera.
(2) There is a strong pro-Java & Sumatra bias in the Anglophone Indonesian historiography, especially the focus on the era of the Indonesian modern independence struggle. One tends to forget, that the Makassarese of Gowa were only pacified, through the Bongaya treaty, in 1905. Apart from Eastern Indonesia, the independence struggle carried out in Kalimantan has also been overlooked by many Anglophone historians. This bias is probably caused by the fact that many of the East Indonesian and Kalimantan independence fighters, such as Kahar Muzakkar, Andi Mattalata, Sam Ratulangie and his daughter, Zus Ratulangie, and Tjilik Riwut, began their struggle from the bases in Java, due to the colonial centralistic state in Java, before eventually moving to their places of origin. The late Tjilik Riwut commanded the Air Force and Navy units which attacked the Dutch military posts in South and Central Kalimantan. because of his close connections with Sukarno, who was also an admirer of the Air Force, he was later appointed as the first governor of Central Kalimantan, one of the three Dayak governors before a series of Javanese governors ruled Central Kalimantan, until now.
(3) We should not forget that during the BPKI debates, some of the founding fathers of the Indonesian Republic also opted for a federalistic state, namely Mohammad Hatta and GSSJ (Sam) Ratulangie. They were overruled by the majority of the BPKI members, which were obviously so much obsessed with unity, that they feared federalistic state would certainly work in favour of the Dutch divide and rule tactics.
(4) Currently, democracy stirs have already become stronger in this Malay Muslim monarchy, which Azahari and his Partai Ra'yat Brunei wanted to reform in the early 1960s. However, PRB is still banned and recently its former executive secretary, Haji Zaini Haji Ahmad, has been detained. Hence, another light needs to be put on this aborted revolution, instead of putting PRB -- and especially its former chairperson and founder, Azahari -- simply as a "puppet" of Sukarno's expansionistic dreams to take over the former British colonies of Northern Borneo. For a better picture of this aborted revolution and its aspirations, see Zaini Haji Ahmad's book, Partai Rakyat Brunei: The People's Party of Brunei, Selected Documents/Dokumen Terpilih. Kuala Lumpur: Insan; Graham Saunders, 1994. A history of Brunei. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press; Bill Tarrant, "Reform hopes rise as democracy stirs in Brunei", The Australian, May 26, 1995; and
(5) When the report on the "Act of Free Choice" was debated in the UN in November 1969, it was approved by 84 UN members, with 30 abstentions, most of them from Africa and the Caribbean. Support for Indonesia came mainly from the Western countries, which could not wait to invest in West Papua's wealthy natural resources, and from Arabic countries, which wanted Indonesia's support in their confrontation with Israel over the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. For a detailed report about the way the "Act of Free Choice" was carried out, and how it was approved in the UN, see Robin Osborne, 1985, Indonesia's secret war: The guerilla struggle in Irian Jaya. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, pp.40-52; and George J. Aditjondro, 1993. Bintang kejora di tengah kegelapan malam: Penggelapan nasionalisme orang Irian dalam historiografi Indonesia. Paper presented at a seminar on Indonesian nationalism in the wake of the 21st Century, organized by Yayasan Bina Darma at the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, June 2-5, 1993.
(6) See Tim Kell, 1995. The roots of Acehnese rebellion, 1989-1992. Ithaca: Cornell Modern Indonesia Project.
(7) Currently in Indonesia, the regressive colonial laws are being glorified by the regime, while the progressive Hinder Ordinance is often overruled by the new environmental regulations which take away the power from the citizens and the local communities and hand it over to the bureaucrats and their professional consultants, thereby favoring "expert-ocracy" over democracy.