continuation of
LIBERATING OUR COLONIAL MINDSET
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.
(8) With the increasing power of the government-supported Islamic Scholars Association (ICMI), there seems to emerge a strong favoritism for the promotion of Muslim bureaucrats, which is seen by some Muslim politicians and academics as the right political 'correction' to the late General Ali Murtopo's favouritism for right wing Christians -- especially Catholics -- during the first decade of the New Order. Apart from that, there is also a strong favouritism for Javanese or Java-born bureaucrats and military officials, and on top of that, there is also a disproportional number of military or retired military personnel in the civil service.
(9) Indonesia's compulsory and restrictive religious policy has caused numerous unpleasant side effects. Because of the monotheist emphasis (in accordance with the first principle of the Panca Sila), Hinduism, a polytheist religion, has become molded into a monotheist religion, and under the Semitic influence of Christianity and Islam as well as under the economic pressure of modern life, have become a centralized religion and uprooted from their Bali environment. Many local or tribal religions, have to survive as a sect of Hinduism, for instance the Dayak Kaharingan religion and the Torajanese Aluk To Dolo. Meanwhile, in East Timor, many believers in the tribal religions were forced to adopt one of the four religions (Islam, Christianity, Hindu and Buddha) officially recognized by the Indonesian state, and chose Christianity. In addition, followers of Kong Hu Cu, which is a non-theist religion, have opted for Buddhism or Christianity. Finally the prohibition against atheism has triggered the 'free fight' battle for those atheist souls between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia as well as between Protestants and Catholics in East Timor (NTT), with all its unpleasant side effects.
(10) Even the current parliament, which already consists of persons screened by the security apparatus for their loyalty to the state philosophy Pancasila and the 1945 constitution, has practically no say in the approval of Indonesia's foreign debts, which has already been pre-arranged by the executive arm of the government. This is a violation of Article 23 of the 1945 Constitution, which emphasizes that the difference between a fascist state and a democratic state is in the right of the people through their parliament to determine their government's budgets. This shows how in reality the Indonesian government is not accountable to its own people, but to the people of its creditor nations -- mainly the USA, Japan, Germany -- which through their parliaments can determine the direction and quality of the loans and grants to finance Indonesia's development plans. This is a form of neo-colonialism one could say.
(11) Two of the richest Chinese tycoons in Indonesia, Liem Sioe Liong (Sudono Salim), and Eka Tjipta Widjaja were the gunrunners of the guerilla troops in Central Java and South Sulawesi,respectivelty (see Sori Ersa Siregar & Kencana Tirta Widya, 1989. Liem Sioe Liong:Dari Futching ke mancanegara. Jakarta: Pustaka Merdeka, pp. 24-32). Twenty years later, one of the younger Chinese tycoons, Robby Sumampouw, supplied the Indonesian troops which invaded East Timor in 1975, under the command of Benny Murdani and his two deputy commanders, Dading Kalbuadi and Sahala Rajagukguk. Currently, the three retired generals still act as the protectors of Robby Sumampouw's Batara Indra Group, which has its extensive business operations in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Christmas Island (see George J. Aditjondro, 1994. In the shadow of Mount Ramelau: The impact of the occupation of East Timor. Lediden:Indoc, pp. 58-62, 88-89). Hence, the business and military connections in Indonesia are as old as the republic, and has become the basis of the formation of Indonesia's current oligarchy, which is very deeply entrenched in the Indonesian economy.
(12) Albert Memmi. The colonizer and the colonized. 1990 Earthscan Publications edition (Original French edition, 1957). London, p. 217.
(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.
(8) With the increasing power of the government-supported Islamic Scholars Association (ICMI), there seems to emerge a strong favoritism for the promotion of Muslim bureaucrats, which is seen by some Muslim politicians and academics as the right political 'correction' to the late General Ali Murtopo's favouritism for right wing Christians -- especially Catholics -- during the first decade of the New Order. Apart from that, there is also a strong favouritism for Javanese or Java-born bureaucrats and military officials, and on top of that, there is also a disproportional number of military or retired military personnel in the civil service.
(9) Indonesia's compulsory and restrictive religious policy has caused numerous unpleasant side effects. Because of the monotheist emphasis (in accordance with the first principle of the Panca Sila), Hinduism, a polytheist religion, has become molded into a monotheist religion, and under the Semitic influence of Christianity and Islam as well as under the economic pressure of modern life, have become a centralized religion and uprooted from their Bali environment. Many local or tribal religions, have to survive as a sect of Hinduism, for instance the Dayak Kaharingan religion and the Torajanese Aluk To Dolo. Meanwhile, in East Timor, many believers in the tribal religions were forced to adopt one of the four religions (Islam, Christianity, Hindu and Buddha) officially recognized by the Indonesian state, and chose Christianity. In addition, followers of Kong Hu Cu, which is a non-theist religion, have opted for Buddhism or Christianity. Finally the prohibition against atheism has triggered the 'free fight' battle for those atheist souls between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia as well as between Protestants and Catholics in East Timor (NTT), with all its unpleasant side effects.
(10) Even the current parliament, which already consists of persons screened by the security apparatus for their loyalty to the state philosophy Pancasila and the 1945 constitution, has practically no say in the approval of Indonesia's foreign debts, which has already been pre-arranged by the executive arm of the government. This is a violation of Article 23 of the 1945 Constitution, which emphasizes that the difference between a fascist state and a democratic state is in the right of the people through their parliament to determine their government's budgets. This shows how in reality the Indonesian government is not accountable to its own people, but to the people of its creditor nations -- mainly the USA, Japan, Germany -- which through their parliaments can determine the direction and quality of the loans and grants to finance Indonesia's development plans. This is a form of neo-colonialism one could say.
(11) Two of the richest Chinese tycoons in Indonesia, Liem Sioe Liong (Sudono Salim), and Eka Tjipta Widjaja were the gunrunners of the guerilla troops in Central Java and South Sulawesi,respectivelty (see Sori Ersa Siregar & Kencana Tirta Widya, 1989. Liem Sioe Liong:Dari Futching ke mancanegara. Jakarta: Pustaka Merdeka, pp. 24-32). Twenty years later, one of the younger Chinese tycoons, Robby Sumampouw, supplied the Indonesian troops which invaded East Timor in 1975, under the command of Benny Murdani and his two deputy commanders, Dading Kalbuadi and Sahala Rajagukguk. Currently, the three retired generals still act as the protectors of Robby Sumampouw's Batara Indra Group, which has its extensive business operations in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Christmas Island (see George J. Aditjondro, 1994. In the shadow of Mount Ramelau: The impact of the occupation of East Timor. Lediden:Indoc, pp. 58-62, 88-89). Hence, the business and military connections in Indonesia are as old as the republic, and has become the basis of the formation of Indonesia's current oligarchy, which is very deeply entrenched in the Indonesian economy.
(12) Albert Memmi. The colonizer and the colonized. 1990 Earthscan Publications edition (Original French edition, 1957). London, p. 217.
