Last week I took part in an intensive comparative learning
tour of Indonesia. It was an opportunity to learn about Indonesia’s journey
towards democracy from 1945 under the leadership of Sukarno, the “New Order”
under General Suharto from 1965 and the “Reformasi” which began in 1998 and is
ongoing. Over the next few weeks I will share my reflections about what Indonesia
has learned – the preconditions for democracy in their context, the process of dialogue,
development of mechanisms for accountability, work towards interreligious
tolerance and other transitions that take place along the journey, including
the situation in Tanah (West) Papua. As we continue our own journey towards
democracy, both pre and post September 2014, perhaps we may be able to learn
something from Indonesia’s longer and more intense journey.
Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world,
behind China, India and the United States of America with an estimated 253,899,536
(237,424,363 according to 2010 census) people living on its 17,508 islands.
There are over 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia.95% of those are of Native
Indonesian ancestry, the largest being the Javanese who make up nearly 42% of
the total population. Indonesia is also has the largest Muslim population in
the world (approx. 202.9 million) making up 88.2% of Indonesia’s population.
With these statistics, I was surprised to learn that the Vice Governor of
Jakarta, the capital and largest city of Indonesia, the most populous city in
Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, was a triple minority. Basuki Tjahaja
Purnama is ethnically Chinese, a Protestant Christian and from Bangka Belitung,
a small province of islands to the east of the island of Sumatra.
I met Vice-Governor Purnama, commonly known by his Hakka
Chinese affectionate nickname, Ahok last week, when he spoke to our Fijian
group as part of our comparative learning programme. Striving to be an example
of an agent of positive transformation, the story of Ahok’s political rise is
an example of how social issues and not race or religion is important to voters
in his context. Ahok, a geologist by profession (although he also holds an MBA)
started as a businessman but shut down his quarry business because of the frustration
of dealing with a corrupt bureaucracy in Bangka-Belitung. He entered politics
to prove that political leaders can be chosen by the people based on their
track record, accountability and work ethic.
In 2004, in a country where patron-client politics,
locally known as money-politics is a reality, Ahok chose to run for local
provincial parliament in a clean campaign. Rejecting the usual campaign method
of putting up banners and handing out flyers with printed promises, he again
handed out his private cellphone number so that people could contact him at any
time. Although that campaign resulted in
only 93 votes, it was enough to get him elected. Just seven months into his
term, he had gathered enough support to run for Regent or district head of East
Belitung, a contest he won to many people’s surprise. That a Christian, ethnic
Chinese councilman was able to become the head of a 93 percent Muslim-majority
district can be attributed to his hands-on approach and close relationship with
the people. During his term as Regent, he introduced policies such as ensuring
free healthcare and education for the people. He cut the development budget put
out to tender by 20 percent, to reduce corruption from rigged bids. He also
slashed the administration’s travel budget by 80 percent from about Rp 1
billion ($215,278) a year. These savings were directed to health and education
programs designed to guarantee that all residents had access to health care, to
schools and build infrastructure in slum areas. He also began to document
corruption in local politics.
In 2008 he founded the NGO, Center for Democracy and
Transparency (CDT) to channel his personal donations to the poor. The Center is
involved in social work that includes helping Jakartans with legal, education
and health problems.
In 2009 Ahok took his “clean campaign” to the national
level. He was successful and elected to Dewan Perwakilan Rakya, (People's
Representative Council), one of two elected national legislative assemblies in
Indonesia. His tough attitude against corruption did not help in a campaign
against the incumbent governor when he tried to get support for senior citizens
in the form of a $15 monthly allowance. Even when supported by Abdurrahman “Gus
Dur” Wahid (Indonesian Muslim religious and political leader who served as the
President of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001), Ahok lost due to what he claimed was
cheating and a corrupt supreme court. Yet he still chose not to play the
“money-politics” game.
“When it was suggested to me that by paying a bribe I
could get the Supreme Court to rule in my favour, I asked my wife for advice,”
he said during our meeting. “She in responded by asking me if I was Jesus’
disciple or Barabbas’ disciple. I chose to remain Jesus’ disciple in this
political world. Unfortunately most chose the Barabbas way.”
In his first month as Vice or Lieutenant Govenor, Ahok confronted
key issues related to traffic congestion, labor, and the bureaucracy. He
successfully mediated a minimum wage increase, proposed incentives for street
vendors to move to specified markets in order to reduce congestion, launched
surprise inspections of government offices, and proposed installing closed
circuit televisions to improve accountability.
For the sake of “truth-telling” – accountability and
transparency, Ahok has his meetings filmed and uploaded on YouTube for the
public to see. The YouTube broadcast of Ahok’s budget meeting with public works
agency officials was viewed more than 1.3 million times in 2012. According to
the Jakarta Post, while Ahok’s videos have been criticised by some as an
unnecessary public humiliation of officials, “many Jakartans hoped that the
YouTube video revealed a new reality in the era of multi-media and Internet
technology, with secrecy, collusion, cronyism and conspiracy having no place in
the public realm.” Ahok’s policy of uploading videos of his budget meetings and
the work of his subordinates on YouTube has inspired the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) to do the same with videos of corruption trials at the Jakarta
Corruption Court. Even our meeting was filmed, although perhaps it was not
important enough for YouTube.
Ahok still gives his personal number to all he meets,
although now he has 13 blackberry phones which his interns (with whom he even shares
his office space) help him manage.
“My policy is to obey the constitution, not the
constituents, “he said. “My motto is: No bribery; justice for all, including
minorities; follow the constitution and; be prepared to die for your values.”
Ahok’s commitment to be an actor for positive change is a
lesson in leadership for us all.
“Simplicity, Serenity, Spontaneity
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