The wayang kulit, or Indonesian shadow theatre, lasts a long time. The performance can begin at 9pm and go to dawn. One puppeteer can play all night. The plot line is long and intricate. Though the representation of the characters is a two-dimensional shadow, the drama is very much three dimensional. Plays may be set in mythological times but they frequently make reference to contemporary events.
The resignation of President Suharto yesterday should be seen as but a small episode in a wayang kulit. For the past 30 years it has been difficult to distinguish puppeteer from puppet. Was the army running Suharto or was Suharto running the army? Part of the art form of wayang kulit, of course, is illusion. Small puppets, with appropriate lighting, cast very large shadows, which in turn become the reality of the character in the play and later when the lighting changes, the shadow shrinks to nothing.
Mr Suharto at different times changed between the roles of puppet and puppeteer and back again. He may have resigned, but the danger is that either he as puppeteer will continue control behind the scenes or, as is more likely, the real puppeteer, the army and the Golkar party, have just swapped puppets. The danger is that the shadow of Suharto is changed for the shadow of Jusuf Habibie and the show is the same. And indeed, wayang kulit plays the same plot and same themes with little variation again and again.
But this time the world is hoping for a different outcome. Things must change, significantly and permanently.
On Wednesday, The Canberra Times said in an editorial, “”In the end, though, it will be no good replacing the man, if the system stays rotten.” That holds good three days later with the man — Suharto — replaced.
There are two elements to reform in Indonesia. The first is the removal of Mr Suharto and his family from positions of political and economic power. The second is a transition to a more open and democratic form of government. It is no good changing the puppet if the puppeteer plays the same play.
It may well be that changes are put in place to take most or all of the Suharto wealth away. But that will not be enough to satisfy reasonable demands for a more democratic system that would prevent a recurrence of that sort of corruption and abuse of human rights.
Students and Muslim leader Amien Rais called for Mr Suharto to be put on trial. It is unlikely to happen. The puppeteer will not try his puppet. The call for Mr Suharto to be put on trial ran against a declaration by Indonesia’s powerful military that it will protect him. Armed forces chief and defence minister General Wiranto said immediately after Dr Habibie took his oath of office, that the military will “”safeguard the safety and the honour” of Mr Suharto and his family. That may not be such a bad thing. Any trial would have been a distracting sideshow to the main play and might push the army into a corner that would be inimical to more general change.
This is the real question.
The military plays a central role in Indonesian politics. It is a pillar of the ruling Golkar party and is guaranteed 75 seats in the 500-member parliament. It will be unlikely to surrender the puppets and the direction of play to vagaries of full-bloodied democracy immediately, but ultimately it must, so it would be better if it did so in an orderly and timely way.
It may run counter to the Javanese way, but the important thing at this juncture in the wayang kulit is that the opportunity is taken to embrace a far greater acknowledgement of the wishes of the audience so that the play does not go on in the same direction as the past of cronyism, nepotism and abuse of human rights.