Sri Edi Swasono (in Marwan Batubara, Scandal of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support) wrote that “nepotistic government that neglects principle of meritocracy and the demand for professionalism is the root of all troubles. Mediocre people could get into the government and enjoyed privileges. This condition provides opportunity for imperialistic-globalism to carry out their plan of robbery.”
Amin Rais has a similar idea. In his latest book , Save Indonesia, he wrote that Indonesian national elite suffer from mental sickness. They have slave mentality. They do not dare to fight foreign corporatocracy. They have inferiority feeling. Instead of struggling for national interests, they colaborate with foreign corporatocracy for their interests. There are several law that are "ordered" by foreign corporate. Consequently Indonesia at present is dominated by foreign corporate. Indonesia lose its economic sovereignty. Its resources are exploited by foreign corporate.
Koran Tempo daily has a special edition on August 19, 2008. They wrote a special report on Indonesian parliament focusing on the dark sides of the parliament. Their take home pay is 45 million rupiah per month. Then they receive fund to visit their constitution as much as 2 million rupiah per month. They also receive recess money four times a year as much as 31,5 million rupiah each time. Tempo wrote that they may receive up to 1 billion rupiah (approximately US $ 90.000) per year.
Besides their extraordinary income compared to ordinary Indonesians, they also have extraordinary behavior. The press exposed many scandals. Three of them committed adultery. The court for eradication of corruption revealed that Bank Indonesia (central bank) channeled fund as much as 31,5 billion IDR to the parliament.
Eventhough people may create dissenting argument, there are some elements of truth in the arguments of Amin Rais and Sri Edi Swasono. We may conclude from their opinion that Indonesia today needs a strong leadership. Indonesian leaders must meet tight criteria such as strong intellectual and professional background. They must be morally justified. They must have a strong managerial capability. These strength must be equally distributed among the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. In addition the strength must be proven, based on their track record. It is hard to understand that mediocre people take key public offices since Indonesia face complicated economic, political, legal, social and cultural problems.
In such a situation politifal parties out of the blue are offering celebrities and close relatives of party leaders to become legislature candidates for the general election of 2009. The public is surprised. Where is the logic ?
Sutrisno Bachir, the chairman of PAN (National Mandate party) stated that they are also human being. We all know that they are human being. Nobody doubted that fact. None has ever made statement that they are non human. But the question is, do they have any capability to work well as member of parliament ? Do they have high professional achievement that are useful to help solve Indonesian problems ? We are afraid that they will start learning when they get elected. So when will they start working ?
We do not deny their political and legal rights to run for parliamentary office, however the public hesitation about their capability must not be neglected. It is imperative that we avoid voting mediocre people to hold key positions in the national leadership. If Indonesian public vote for mediocre people as member of parliament, then the parliament will decay. The parliament will further degrade if intellectual weakness colaborate with moral weakness. We can imagine if people with poor intellectual capability and are used to glamourous lifestyle with permissive moral attitude hold high political position. Furthermore, wealthy corporations who have conflicting interests with Indonesian people approached them. How can they resist such temptation ? We are very worried if someday law will have price.
The next Indonesian parliament is really endangered. There is a high possibility that it will become mediocre institution. Mediocre leadership in the past had led Indonesia into crisis up to the present. If mediocre leadership continue foe the next five years, the Indonesia will become easy prey for corporatocracy.
In this perpective then fit and proper test for all legislature candidate is imperative. Whoever he or she is, whether a wellknown celebrity or ordinary people, a daughter or a son of a big political party or minister or even president, fresh graduate or experienced politicans must take the test to prove their intelectual, managerial, and moral capability.
A strong and effective leadership is everybody's interest, whatever his/her race, religion, sex, or level of economy is. Therefore, it is urgent that all groups in the society take part in the recruitment process.
The question is, who should organize the test ? Since the election commission is the one who take care of election, ideally it is the election commission that must carry out the test. However, various segments of the society must take part. University including their students should take part. So do NGO, religious groups like Muhamaddiyya, Nahdlatul Ulama etc.
In short, Indonesia today face difficult social, economic and political problems. Therefore Indonesia needs a strong and effective national leadership. In the coming election Indonesian people must vote for professional people to hold key positions in the executive and legislature. Election commission must organize a test for legislature candidate to make sure that Indonesian people will have a strong and effective leadership in the future.
