Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia

By Beni Bevly

Many people, including human right and environmental activists perceive former Jakarta Governor and 2009 presidential candidate Sutiyoso, also called Bang (Brother) Yos in Batavia dialect as a controversial, unpopular and even tarnished politician. How would you perceive him if you have a chance to discuss and confront him face to face for more than 5 hours? Will your perception change? Will you vote for him? I do not mean to endorse any body to be the next Indonesia president through this article.

On January 5, 2008, several colleagues and I confronted him face to face on the subject of the past, current and future issues regarding himself and Indonesia in San Francisco for 5 hours 30 minutes, from 7:00 PM to 12:30 AM. My impression he was very relentless with his arguments. His answers were mostly and exactly alike what I witnessed from an interview conducted in August 2007 by Peter F Gontha on QTV, an Indonesian TV channel. The differences when he was interviewed by Gontha, he had not yet declared that he would run for president in 2009 presidential election and why he made that decision, and the other difference was the words he used were softer.

My perception did not change after discussing with him; even his arguments made my perception became “reality”. To me, he is the mirror of the past and current of Indonesia, and probably he will be the mirror for the future of Indonesia too.

In the past he, as Lieutenant General, was indistinguishable with Indonesia politics known as bureaucratic authoritarian under Orde Baru regime. By a bureaucratic-authoritarian regime, I mean a nation that is ruled by a leader who has power that is concentrated in his hands only, while government itself is administered by relying on bureaucratic and coercive forces (Guillermo, 1988). In this period, just like most of people who served in ABRI (Indonesia’s Armed Forces), Sutiyoso carried out Soeharto’s command against PKI (Indonesia Communist Party), to subjugate Timor Timur, and oppress political opponents or activists. He was a part of Indonesia bureaucratic authoritarian government where military was the main tool to govern.

Sutiyoso’s integrity and honesty were questioned by human right activists because he pointed out there were only 5 people died on July 27, 1996 conflict and there were no direct victims from that incident. The conflict between Soeryadi backed by military and Megawati who competed to occupy PDI’s (Indonesia Democratic Party) office in Jakarta that involved huge of mass and pushed out Megawati from her office was estimated many people died, buried underneath the office and hundreds disappeared by human right activists. He convinced me he was clean by presenting the fact that President Megawati still appointed him to be the Governor of Jakarta.

In other occasion, Sutiyoso was challenged by overseas police. In May 2007, when he was at his hotel in Australia, there was an arrest warrant issued by Australia Government for Sutiyoso who was suspected of involving in killing 5 journalists in 1975 — known as Balibo Five — when he was a captain who led an operation in Timor Timur (East Timor/the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste). He denied the accusation and mentioned he was never assigned to Balibo. He demanded Australia government send an apology letter to him, which had been fulfilled by the government.

Sutiyoso also reflects the current situation in Indonesia; which is chaos. Now, Indonesia government tends to do nothing with people who break the law. They accede to the anarchy happen. For example, the government allows Aceh, one of the provinces, to adopt Sharia Law instead of implementing national law. Some Islam organizations such as FPI (Islam Liberation Front) and its members have been shutting down entertainment centers and churches. They have been acting as if they were police and have the right to do so.

On the other side, government is not identical with problem solver. In certain level, people perceive them as a part of the problems.

Sutiyoso is also portrayed as a figure who did not solved the main problem in Jakarta, traffic jam. Many people are still blaming Sutiyoso for that. Instead of creating smooth driving condition, he created bus way system that took over half of the width of Jakarta main streets. He said that was his initial and visible first project other than sub way, waterway, and monorail projects. If he does not do anything, there will be stagnant in Jakarta by 2014. It means as soon as a car driven from a garage, there will be no more room to move.

Other chaos situation was demonstrations and protests from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). He admitted there were 4,900 demonstrations in Jakarta when he was the governor for 10 years.

In the future, Sutiyoso wishes to be the president of Indonesia, that’s why before ending his duty as governor, he decided and declared to run for president in 2009 election. He convinced us that there were two major problems needed to be solved as soon as possible: first, the economical problem, and second, law enforcement. According to him, these two major problems have been creating chaos, unsafe, and uncertainty for everybody including investors and expatriates.

The first thing he is going to do if he is elected as a president is to reform government administration, and enforce the laws. He said the administration system is one of the culprits why the economy set back. It is the most difficult task to reform the administration system because by doing that, it means reducing power and authority, while power and authority are the access for government officials to corrupt.

Also, because of this type of administration, the provinces are not fully independent; they are still controlled by Jakarta. As the former chairman of APPSI (Association for Provincial Government of Indonesia), Sutiyoso knows that the controlling from Jakarta is not conducive for provinces to develop themselves. The governors know better their regions than those politicians in Jakarta.

In terms of reinforcing laws, his stressed that every violation must be followed by punishment. There was no impunity, and he was not hesitant to make unpopular decision. To him, there was no dualism in laws, such as what was happening in Aceh now with its Syariah Law. He was questioning why Islam Sharia granted in Aceh, how about “Christian Sharia” in other region? At last, he said separation movement would not be tolerated; there was no room for GAM (Free Aceh Movement) to move.

It seems he is the mirror of the past and current Indonesia situation, and he will be the part of Indonesia future if he gets elected. The issues that are questionable: Are the current Indonesia situation and the future problem solving he provided valid? If he becomes the president of Indonesia, will he fulfill his promises? Will he be able to lead to develop better Indonesia? Will you vote for and support him to be Indonesia President?

To answer those questions, I would like to provide a finding in Theory of Transformational and Transactional Leadership (1985, 1997) from Bernard M. Bass of State University of New York Bass. In his research, he suggests that transformational leaders possess the following characteristics: First, they have vision. They are inherently future-oriented. They involve helping a group move “from here to there.” These types of leaders also recognize the shortcomings of present order and offer an imaginative vision to overcome them.

Second, in addition to having vision, transformational leaders have superb rhetorical skills that heighten followers’ emotional levels and inspire them to embrace the vision. Many transformational leaders use speech techniques like repetition, rhythm, balance, and alliteration to strengthen the impact of their messages.

Third, they build trust in their leadership and attainability of their goals through an image of seemingly unshakable self-confidence, strength of moral conviction, personal example and self-sacrifice, and unconventional tactics or behaviors.

Fourth, they personalized leadership. Transformational leaders share strong personal bonds with followers, even when the leader occupies a formal organizational role. Personalized leadership from these leaders has three important components: 1. Transformational leaders are sensitive to the emotional states of follower. 2. They also tend to be emotionally expressive. 3. They empower followers by building their self-efficacy.

In addition to Bass’s finding, I need to point it out that a person cannot be detached from his root, his surrounding, his integrity, his values and his actions in the past and at the present because those will determine what he will do in the future. Thus, use your only vote wisely in 2009 presidential election.

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*Dr. Beni Bevly holds BA in Political Science, MBA in Marketing, and DBA in Organizational Leadership. He is the founder of Overseas Think Tank for Indonesia.