A night to reflect on the continuation of the reformation steps achieved so far was organized by the Universitas Indonesia Alumni Association (Iluni-UI) in Depok on Friday night, lasting to 01.00 a.m. early on Saturday.
Present were, among others, pro-reformation notables Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati, law expert T Mulya Lubis, sociologist Prof Selo Soemardjan, political scientist Drs Arbi Sanit, politician Sri Biintang Pamungkas, musicians and culture afficionados Iwan Fals, Jaduk Ferianto, Harry Roesli, and WS Rendra. During the session it became clear that all circles, including the students, were aware that the reformation had not yet been concluded at all.
About 10,000 people, consisting of students and members of the public, followed the event in an orderly manner. Students attending were not just from the UI, but also from Universitas Trisakti, Universitas Pancasila, and the ISTN. Occasionally there were pro-reformation yells.
The event started with with the staging of 'dangdut' rhythm music which enlivened the atmosphere. Then ensued a cultural reformation dialogue which featured Prof Selo and WS Rendra, with Ira Koesno from SCTV acting as moderator.
The students listened with full attention to the concepts posed by the speakers, and responded with yells concerning reformation. The rain drizzling down did nothing to disperse the audience.
In that dialogue, Prof Selo Soemardjan evaluated that, although the reformation had progressed far, the society did not yet feel "free". The students should be on the alert against spineless or turncoat notables. Besides that, students should realize that the reformation had not yet been concluded and there was still a long road to travel.
WS Rendra said that mental reformation was very decisive in pointing the way of reformation now. In concrete terms there should be control by a clean institution over people in power, no matter how clean these were. "It is the absence of control which will cause a clean person in power to turn dirty too," he said spiritedly.
After the dialogue on cultural reformation, it was the turn of Iwan Fals to sound his songs of criticism, followed by a dialogue on economic reformation which featured Dr Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
Sri Mulyani said that political consensus must be reached as quickly as possible, to prevent further worsening of economic conditions. Political consensus could only be achieved when there was agreement between government and community notables.
She reminded the government to be cautious in adopting policies in the economic field, particularly to avoid rocketing of the inflation rate. The Indonesian people were already extremely troubled by the current economic and political conditions, she said.
Confused
Program coordinator Effendi Gazali said the the resignation of Soeharto from the positon of president, was not the sole objective of the reformation struggle. In the meantime the current situation represented confusing conditions, because there is division among circles which previously were very closely associated.
According to Gazali, history teaches that at the moment the shackles and tyranny are shed, simultaneously there spew forth a multitude of progressive and regressive impulses. As a result, mish-mash concepts emerge, for instance a mixture of democracy and primordialism, human rights and sectarianism, as well as anti corruption-collusion-nepotism and tribalism.
This night of reflection had as point of departure all events which took place in the process of reformation. All pro-reformation circles endeavored to grasp what really had happened, how to face it, what still had to be faced, what was urgent on the agenda of reformation, and importantly, in what direction matters were heading.
That was based on the fact that the demands for reformation had been able to achieve a breakthrough hitherto considered unlikely, namely the resignation of Soeharto from the position of President of the Republic of Indonesia.(*)