Image Politics Indonesian Style...

It is hard not to be cynical when it comes to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or SBY as he is known by the masses. The man must be coated in Teflon. He did not manage to only get elected to the presidency in Indonesia once, but twice.

The man has been a failure by any measure, particularly when it comes to fulfilling his campaign promises. With all due respect and fairness, most, if not all, politicians inflate and embellish their campaign promises in order to get elected.

However, the difference is that most politicians will have a crack and trying to come good on their campaign promises and either succeed to a degree or back track while trying to maintain some dignity as they hightail it with their tails between their legs. Yet, with SBY there has been no real effort to make headway on any of the significant campaign promises he or his Democrat Party made either in the 2004 or 2009 elections.

There has been some recent talk of trying to amend the 1945 Constitution with a view to making it possible for SBY to run for a third term. It won;t happen. The idea being that there are no other candidates out there that can do the job. This is all spin and all garbage. There are plenty of Indonesians out there that can do the job and could be doing a better job than SBY. It is an absurd proposition that with a population of 240 million that there is not one single solitary sole that could do the job!

The truth of the matter is a little bit more murky. The reality is that you have to be in with the right people and prepared to trade horses on a grand scale to reach the top. The entrenched elites of the Soeharto era remain and continue to fight hard to maintain their grip on the chains of power. The fact that a man like Aburizal Bakrie can head up a major political party and continue to avoid seeing his family companies pay out for the human error that caused the Sidoarjo mud extrusion is testament to money politics holding sway over good common sense.

So, back to image politics. The presidential spokesperson, Julian Aldrin Pasha, decided to write an opinion piece in Kompas (it is in Indonesian). The title of the piece is "Consistency of the President". I would agree, there is a need for the president to be consistent, consistently good!

The reality is that the president has been consistent. He has been consistent in his failures, he has been consistent in not being presidential, he has been consistent in avoiding making the hard decisions, he has been consistent in being weak on corruption, he has been consistent in abandoning Indonesians making real progress in reform - bureaucratic and legal, come to think of it the president has been consistent in doing nothing much at all.

So, why does he remain even mildly popular - image politics. He is the "spin president" (or is that the "President of Spin"?) He is all about image. The fact that the presidential spokesperson has written an opinion piece that is short on substance and big of smoke and mirrors just serves to highlight that those closest to the president will go to any lengths to convince ordinary Indonesians that the sun shines out of his nether regions (his arse for the less polite and courteous amongst us). This is image politics at its most crass!

The plainest reality of all is that SBY was elected because he represented promise, the unfulfilled potential that Indonesia continues to hold...he continues to be popular because people still want to believe that he can lead them to the promised land in spite of all the evidence that suggests he is leading them to the brink.

Thus endeth today's rant...ho hum!

Swine Flu, Tourists, Face Masks, and Indonesia

The Minister of Health (and Conspiracy Theories and Other Crazy Ideas) has decided that all tourists from swine flu affected countries must where face masks for the first three days after their arrival in Indonesia. It seems that the fact that 50% of the eight cases of swine flu or the A(H1N1) virus confirmed in Indonesia has tipped the scales in favour of all foreigners from all swine flu affected countries being required to don the face masks. This is presumably even the case if the incoming tourist successfully negotiates the thermal scanner (photo).

According to the Minister, this is a precautionary measure in order to prevent human-to-human transmission. Yep, I can see it now, the tourists from swine flu affected countries in the late night entertainment areas of Legian and Kuta painting the town red in their designer face masks. The question though is really one of enforcement. And, as the Minister of Conspiracy Theories points out, it is going to be a little hard to enforce the requirement for people wanting to go swimming, or perhaps eating, or drinking, or myriad of other pursuits that would undoubtedly be hampered by the mask.

The government recognizes that if it were to jump up and down in order to show that it was serious about this, then there could be a spanner thrown into the works of the slow but sure recovery of the tourism industry in places like Bali. Hence, there is no penalty if people choose not to wear the mask after they are given it at the airport.

This begs the question, "Why bother?"

This is especially so when the new "policy" is still unfunded and the Department of Health is still trying to ascertain where the funds are coming from to buy the masks that are going to be handed out for free. The true Indonesian entrepreneurial spirit would have been to tag an extra USD 5 on each visa on arrival to cover the cost of the mask. Let's face it, it is still cheaper to pay the fiver than it is to stand on principle and turn around and board the next flight back to wherever it is that you came from.

This brilliant policy initiative came out of a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister of His Own Family's Welfare (oops Peoples' Welfare), Aburizal Bakrie, who said the funds would be made available for the purchase of the masks.

This also begs a question, "Aren't there more important matters that require immediate funding?" It also possibly begs a second question, "When does the Minister think that his family companies and the government will get around to finalizing the Lapindo matter, particularly the outstanding payments to those affected by that disaster?"

Funnily enough, the Health Minister has indicated that she is particularly concerned by the huge numbers of Australian tourists that invade Bali annually. I noted in my previous post on swine flu that it was a perfect scenario for the doomsdayers, conspiracy theorists, and Commission I of the DPR to ratchet up the idea that swine flu was another attempt by foreigners to covertly usurp Indonesian sovereignty through the spread of disease.

This really is a case for the "Why Bother?" files. It is such a waste of money, particularly when the money can be better spent elsewhere.

Mud and More Mud

Well, the Lapindo disaster that has devastated and paralysed Sidoarjo seems to be getting worse despite all the promises that things would get better and the victims would be looked after. The latest fiasco in this never ending drama is the collapse of the embankments that are supposed to contain the mud flow and prevent it from inundating more villages and farms.

The collapse of the embankments saw the surrounding rail lines and roads submerged in up to 80cms of hot stinking mud. And while the people responsible for the embankments twiddle their thumbs and look for someone to blame the mud continues to rise and is now above 1 meter in some places. Just as Bakrie has sort to blame an earthquake for the disaster the Agency responsible is also looking to blame God, this time too much rain. Yet, the reality is that as the earth continues to spew the hot mud out onto the surface the integrity of the land under the embankments is compromised and they have started to collapse under their own weight. So, if you cannot stop the flow then you must build secondary and tertiary containment walls to ensure that where one collapses you have another ready to pick up the slack.

The other problem that ensures people continue to become victims of this disaster is that people are refusing to relocate to other areas. This refusal is based on the fact that they have not been compensated as they are supposed to have been. But it is not only the local residents that are losing money and being affected by this, the government is losing money as well. The inundation of the railway tracks with thick mud means that trains cannot continue to run and tickets have to be refunded and alternative arrangements made.

The cost of the disaster continues to climb with each passing day. There are estimates now that losses will total in the tens of trillions of Rupiah. It is high time that Bakrie and his family made good on the compensation to the victims of this tragic environmental disaster and forked over some of that hard-earned cash he is sitting on. After all he is the richest man in Indonesia and as the Coordinating Minister for Community Prosperity it is about time some of that prosperity made its way to the people of Sidoarjo. This is especially so since his personal fortune has climbed from a miserly USD 1.2 billion to USD 5.4 billion in the space of 12 months.

Updates to follow on this story as it is not likely to come to an end any time soon!

Lapindo - The Mud Continues to Flow

The Lapindo mud flow crisis although no longer an every day news grab, the issue remains within the national interest and on the radar of the House of Representatives (DPR). Moves to an interpellation of the President over the handling of the Lapindo issue has been averted for the time being with the DPR deciding to establish a Parliamentary Supervision Team whose essential task is to monitor the Government’s handling of the ongoing mud flow. The time frame for headway to be made is 3 months and presumably without any significant positive change then the interpellation of the President is back on the agenda.

Yet, this conceivably may be interpreted as just another attempt to postpone the obvious as the Government has had ample opportunity to make headway on the crisis and has failed to do so. Consequently, the decision to establish a Supervision Team was not without opposition with several parliamentary parties noting that the people have been suffering for more than a year and that it is irresponsible to prolong that suffering for a further 3 months.

The questions that arise relate to issues of conflict of interests as the Coordinating Minster for People’s Welfare and Prosperity whose family owns the company that is alleged to be the cause of the mud flow and whether any influence has been exerted to delay a detailed investigation of the matter and the apportioning of legal blame rather than a simple Presidential Regulation as to how compensation is to be determined and paid to the victims.

Interestingly, and something that is not being overtly debated is whether or not if this had been any other company and any other affiliation whether the treatment would have been the same? It is hard to say one way or the other, but what is clear is that Lapindo has been granted a lot of slack to deal with the crisis and has not. It is also clear that the Government's handling of the crisis has been unusual to say the least! The fact that the DPR has now created an oversight team might be testament to the lobbying powers of Lapindo officials rather than a testament to the DPR's commitment to seeing an equitable resolution...This latest move reeks of political posturing and grandstanding among the parties as they position themselves in the lead-up to the 2009 general elections...

The other critical question that arises is whether increased Parliamentary oversight of the handling of this crisis is going to be beneficial over the short, medium, or long term.

Nevertheless, the ongoing Government and Parliamentary involvement is likely to mean that Lapindo is able to avoid responsibility and the financial implications of any adverse findings against them for the immediate future. This involvement also gives rise to the spectre of the Government picking up a large portion of the tab where the responsibility must be with the company that causes the damage.

The reality is that the Government even with the assistance of the Parliament cannot stall accountability and action on the mud flow forever. However, for the victims the most important issues are not only how are they going to be compensated but more importantly when.

The next 3 months will determine whether the Government and Parliament is serious about addressing, and resolving, the issues that have arisen as a result of the mud flow crisis that has inundated the Sidoarjo and surrounding areas...Nevertheless, the longer the Government allows this crisis to go on the less credibility it will have with the constituency...With SBY the leader of what is essentially a minor party reliant on the support of the party of the VP, a lack of decisive action will not bode well for his chances of re-election for a further 5-year term...If the recent Jakarta election is any indication then the voting public appears to be much more discerning now than it was in 1999 and 2004...

Power to the People and then maybe Indonesia will really have a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people!

Viva Democracy!!!