sorry megawati....!!!
No name
A familiar story turns up the pressure on Megawati
Asia-Pacific,
By Peter Hartcher
For a champion of democracy, the act of putting a voting paper in the ballot
box in the first free election in 44 years should have been an exquisite
moment. For Indonesia's leading presidential candidate, however, it seemed
to be a pain.
While Indonesia's other presidential candidates used the opportunity of
voting to chat to the people or to give their views to reporters, Megawati
Soekarnoputri just wanted to get away as quickly as possible.
And when reporters followed her home in the quest for a comment on this
glorious day for Indonesian democracy, she turned on them and shouted: "Why
don't you just leave me alone?"
"I worry about Megawati herself," says political analyst Marcus Mietzner, of
the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, in Jakarta. "Does she
have the capability or even the will to govern? Sometimes I get the
impression that she deeply regrets going into politics five years ago."
With only 20 per cent of the vote counted by Friday, the election result
remains unclear. But Megawati's PDI-P party was still in a clear lead, with
35 per cent of the counted votes, and her putative Islamic allies -
Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais - had another 20 per cent between them. The
ruling Golkar party had 20 per cent.
There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, but if she does end up as president
of Indonesia, what sort of a leader would this reluctant politician be?
Our conjecture can be guided by a close parallel. A woman very much like her
in a nearby country won an election in very similar circumstances. That
person was Corazon Aquino, who led the People's Power movement to bring down
the corrupt dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines in 1986.
Consider the similarities.
Both Megawati and Aquino were drawn reluctantly into politics as part of
dynasties rather than in their own right. Aquino became the symbol of
democracy in the Philippines when her husband, opposition politician Benigo
Aquino, was gunned down on the tarmac at Manila airport as he returned from
exile in the US.
Megawati inherited her political status from her father, Indonesia's
charismatic founding president, General Soekarno. He was deposed in 1965 by
Soeharto, who kept his predecessor under virtual house arrest until he died
five years later. Support for Soekarno's daughter was essentially a gesture
of opposition to Soeharto.
Both women were reluctant. In each case, opposition forces had to draft them
to stand as political candidates. And each rode a wave of popular opposition
against entrenched corrupt dictators. Neither was defined so much by who
they were but by whom they were against.
Finally, neither was prepared to govern. Neither had a real grasp of policy
or administration. The parallels are so close that it is almost eerie.
I asked former Aquino Cabinet member Jose Concepcion if such parallels were
valid. Concepcion, who was Aquino's secretary for trade and industry and is
now in Jakarta as an election monitor, agreed that the women were very
alike.
So Megawati be warned. Aquino the popular symbol of democracy became
President Aquino the disappointing leader and incompetent administrator. Her
term as president was marked by indecision and drift. Aquino utterly failed
to resuscitate the economy or deal with the country's many social problems.
This failure of policy, failure of will and failure of leadership left her
wide open to political and military challenge. The army, or parts of it,
repeatedly staged abortive coup attempts. The most serious was checked only
by US military intervention.
The Philippines had to wait for Aquino to leave office until its economic
renaissance could begin under Fidel Ramos. As a result, the Philippines was
surprisingly resilient and healthy when the Asia crisis hit.
This is the most likely future for a Megawati presidency too: years of drift
and dissatisfaction and wasted opportunities, unless she learns from
Aquino's mistakes.
Concepcion's advice to Megawati is to do two things, and to do them well and
quickly. First, she should devise a policy platform for her government. So
far she has articulated virtually no policies at all.
Secondly, she should appoint a well-qualified and competent Cabinet to
follow through on the policy platform. "Then business will be able to judge,
and can make investment plans and get the economy started again," according
to Concepcion.
Indonesia's pressing need today is for a legitimate government and a clear
repudiation of authoritarianism and corruption. Megawati's role today, like
Aquino's yesterday, is to symbolise that change and a new beginning. But if
she can achieve that, she will need to transform herself quickly from
reluctant opposition leader to decisive head of government.
Sorry Megawati, but if you are to be Indonesia's new leader, the scrutiny
and pressures are just beginning.
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CCR <w...@www.com> wrote in message
news:01beb466$3672a720$1a19...@internet-print.sphnet.com.sg...
> Yes, ignore those journalists who cast aspersions on your ability.
>
> They do not speak for themselves but for some autocratic nations
> whose interest it is to see a leadership prospering on cronyism and
> nepotism.
>
> Adi Santoso <san...@badlands.NoDak.edu> wrote in article
> <7js3hl$pog$1...@node2.nodak.edu>...
> > sorry megawati, but if you are to be indonesia's new leader, the
> > scrutiny and pressures are just the beginning.
> >
> > learn from Qorazon Aquino, she became the president, only because of
> > her symbol for justice and democracy againts Marcos. and she became
> > the disappointing president.
> >
> > I hope you are more than Qorazon Aquino.
> >
> > be decisive, and start talking to the people what your programs
> > are...! we need action, not charisma.
> >
> > no need to avoid journalist.
> >
> > we respect you.
> >
> >
> > cherish life,
> >
> > adi
> >