To the outsider, they are a most unlikely pair to lead our nation of 200 million out of its troubles. We face the worst economic collapse in modern times, widely publicized atrocities by the military in East Timor and less-known violence against our own people. Yet upon their election, my eldest brother sent a joyous e-mail to me in capital letters: “I HAVE REGAINED MY PRIDE TO BE INDONESIAN.”
Who can help being proud? As a people, we have gone against a harsh regime and elected the first-ever pair of Indonesian leaders without the customary props of military power, bureaucratic support and financial clout. So who cares if the outsiders call our new president a “frail cleric”? Let them call the separately elected vice president a princess who is silent like the Sphinx. They suspect she is incompetent, though she led a party in silent resistance to mighty President Suharto and led her party to victory with more votes than there are people in two Australias.
For us, it is the people who won. Never mind that the Assembly, which delivered the final vote, was full of political betrayals and horse trading. Had we gone back a number of years, this odd couple would be our undisputed icons of integrity. Now all they have to do is shake off the labels of Machiavellianism (for Gus Dur) and vanity (for Megawati). The proof, as they say, is in the pudding, and the pudding is not the presidency but the regaining of confidence as a nation. We, the people, may be allowed to gloat a little. We may enjoy this irrational moment, because our world had gone crazy: currencies falling, banks failing, heads being chopped off and neighbors demonizing millions for the crimes of a few. “Barbarians,” said a foreign reporter, citing his countrymen’s image of Indonesians. Well, no more.
But the foreign investor asks, how do you actually get out of the hole? Obviously, by managing an economic recovery and political rejuvenation. Are Gus Dur and Mega competent? Who knows? They have never been tested. They are not rocket scientists. They will preside; mere mortals will manage. Once these mortals are appointed, we will judge whether Indonesia is safe for the foreign investor and for their families to shop in the malls of Jakarta.
Gus Dur and Mega may have shortcomings in competence, even in character, but the able men and women who didn’t vote for our rocket-scientist former presidents will give a helping hand. The princess and her mentor will attract bright young economists and managers, not people of dubious character who lingered around B. J. Habibie, our Ph.D. ex-president.
Gus Dur is weak in physique, mercurial in temperament. Maybe that is why he dared to maneuver against the powerful political establishments, stood firm against Islamic zealots from his own world and was not shy to face down students. He negotiated, cajoled, danced like Rudolf Nureyev and became president without firing a single shot. Had she been smart enough to translate her millions of popular support into a vote-getting coalition on the Assembly floor, Mega would have been president. She is perceived to be stony and remote. But she does have infinite patience, and impeccable motherliness; she is an upper-middle-class woman who relates to the downtrodden. She is either a princess or a queen mother, but she could not get the electoral votes to become a queen. Well, maybe alongside Gus Dur she is a queen. They have been an item for many years. Mega’s husband says Gus Dur is her mentor.
What is wonderful is that with unbelievable alacrity, our drama has all been resolved in such reconciliatory tones. Mega thanking Habibie; Hamzah Haz, Mega’s rival, praising Mega; even Habibie bowing out gracefully and Wiranto keeping out of trouble. Now we need both truth and reconciliation. We have reconciliation. Let us eventually get the truth–or at least some of it. This is a honeymoon. May it last for a finite period, because then we will move on and start electing leaders whom the world, in its conventional taste, can understand without listening to our hearts.
Why don’t we elect the best and the brightest? The Ph.D.s, the educated, the supermanagers, the professionals? Because we need heart, and stamina and a sense of destiny. Being president of Indonesia is not a well-defined job; it comes with no retirement plan. It is as life-threatening as any modern disease. It is not amazing that Indonesia has such difficulty finding leaders. What is more amazing is that anyone would expect conventional leaders to emerge from a 33-year system designed to reduce people to uniform mediocrity. Look what happened to outstanding people during Suharto’s reign. Look what robotic monsters he created to support–and to continue briefly–his demonic system.
For better or for worse, the princess and her mentor are joined by the desperate hope of their people.
