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Indonesians Fear For Future Amid Increased Separatism And Lawlessness
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - Indonesia faces serious threats to national unity from separatist uprisings in Aceh and Irian Jaya, and also from a breakdown in law and order across large swathes of the country. And this is making the majority of the Javanese population of Indonesia worried and upset over the future of the country.
The islands of Java, divided into several provinces, voted massively for the reform movement and gave little chance to the ruling government in the 1999 general elections.
A large section of the population of the provinces of Java today feels the reform movement has done almost nothing and has been ineffective.
They have been patiently waiting for changes under the Abdurrahman Wahid administration but say they are disappointed over the little amount the reform government has achieved.
Other provinces have lost their patience as well, as lawlessness has crept over some parts of the country. Regional populations, who have long felt abused and exploited by the central government, have, in the past three years of democratization, increasingly taken the law into their own hands.
In all provinces, communities have forcibly reclaimed land taken from them by businesses linked to former president Suharto, or attacked foreign mining companies accused of depleting resources.
Newly elected local governments include many inexperienced and greedy legislators eager to get their hands on Jakarta's purse strings, and there are concerns that both government and business enterprises will be unable to function in the provinces.
While street protests calling for the resignation of reform president Abdurrahman Wahid continue, the country is in total disbelief over the failures of his administration to wrestle the most powerful family: the Suhartos, who have successfully evaded justice extremely often.
Observers say that within a month, a profound rearrangement of national and regional governments must take place across Indonesia. Others fear this might bring large-scale disruptions and localized corruption as district leaders take on new government functions. Fears are that this process may add to regional discontent with the Javanese dominated central government.
Indonesian legislators had agreed a few months ago to give more regional powers to the provinces. This process is now being finalized and there are high hopes it will prevent the much-feared breakup of the republic.
“Giving money and power to more than 350 districts across the country is the only way Indonesia can survive as a nation-state”, the Minister of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure, Erna Witoelar, said Wednesday.
However, the Government believes potential chaos is the price that must be paid for decades of centralized rule.
"The sooner and the better that we get decentralization and regional autonomy, the more chance [we have] to keep the unity of the country," Witoelar told a seminar on regional autonomy. "Sharing the power, I agree, is something very difficult, but it is inevitable if you want to keep the unity of this country."
In an increase in electoral abuses and bribes, some local district heads promised free land to their constituents to get elected, while foreign mining and land development companies occupying the lands are worried what would happen to their contractual claims.
Meanwhile, top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said if peace talks fail to end years of fighting between the insurgents in Aceh and Irian Jaya and security forces, the government might be forced to impose emergency measures in the region, where thousands have been killed in recent years.
He said this would a measure deemed to keep the country united even though the government was still optimistic that it could end the fighting through negotiations.
''A state of emergency is a last resort, which we hope will not have to be taken,'' said Yudhoyono, a retired army general.
Rebels belonging to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have been fighting for independence for their oil-and gas-rich homeland for about 25 years, leaving at least 5,500 people dead in the past decade.
The conflict poses a serious threat to Indonesia's government as it struggles to stamp out separatist and sectarian conflicts and prevent the sprawling archipelago nation from splitting apart.
In the event of a breakup of Aceh from the Indonesian republic, the Islands of Java and the rest of Indonesia will be cash and resources starved. Only Riau Islands will remain as the main resource center and that would not be enough to sustain the rest of Indonesia.
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