[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Hamas's lesson for Indonesia and the US
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**http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HB11Ae03.html
Feb 11, 2006
Hamas's lesson for Indonesia and the US
By Gary LaMoshi
DENPASAR, Bali - Observers have focused on one obvious lesson from Hamas'
victory in the Palestinian election: democracy in the Middle East may not
produce the results the United States wants. But there's a larger global lesson
particularly applicable in Indonesia, the latest US poster country for
democracy in the Muslim world.
The Bush administration's embrace of democracy as the answer for the Middle
East is another symptom of its allergy to unwelcome facts. The theory proposes
that democracy will produce regimes friendly to US policies. That just ain't
so.
If the US theory worked in Israel, the closest thing to a democracy in the
region, then Shimon Peres would have been prime minister for the past decade,
rather than the Likudniks. If it worked in Iran, the most democratic Muslim
country there, the world wouldn't be fretting over potential nuclear-weapons
development.
In Latin America, democracy first produced a wave of free marketers the US
could love; later results show a swing to the left, including virulently
anti-US Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Democracy produces results that are far more
likely to reflect the aspirations and hopes of people on the street, based on
local issues, than the dreams of the White House.
'Our SOB'
This lesson isn't new. US policymakers have known it for decades and, current
rhetoric aside, it's doubtful they've forgotten it. From the Shah of Iran to
the House of Saud, Sese Seko Mobutu to Ferdinand Marcos, Augusto Pinochet to
Park Chung-hee, the US has traditionally favored "our SOB" (an apocryphal quote
attributed to presidents as far back as Franklin Roosevelt) over free and fair
elections. Often, the US predicted chaos if its man fell, and in some cases,
such as the former Zaire, it's been proved right.
Today in the Middle East, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Saudi royals
suffer occasional public prodding over a lack of democracy. But it's just lip
service, similar to US 1960s and 1970s criticism of apartheid South Africa.
It's the same with that great US ally in its global "war on terror", Pakistani
President General Pervez Musharraf.
While the US habitually encourages democratic window-dressing and sometimes
wins marginal concessions, if push comes to shove, those regimes know the US
will be in their corner for strategic reasons, whatever they do or don't do at
the ballot boxes.
In Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the US fears that full-blown democracy
could lead to the same results as in the Palestinian election: a victory for
radical Islamic parties. US analysis is probably correct, and the Hamas victory
illustrates why.
Hamas' venomous views on Israel get virtually all the attention in the US, but
those weren't the deciding factor in the Palestinian election. Palestinians
didn't vote to push Israel into the sea, but to toss corrupt Fatah officials
off the boat. Former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat reportedly stashed
away billions during his decades as head of Fatah and the Palestinian
Liberation Organization. Despite a steady stream of aid dollars from the United
Nations, the West and the Gulf states, average Palestinians have seen little
progress or development. The key to Hamas' victory was that voters perceived it
as honest, a reputation aided by a social-services network benefiting ordinary
Palestinians.
Scout's honor
That doesn't mean Hamas is a bunch of boy scouts. Voters may have cast their
ballots against corruption, but they also get "death to Israel" as part of the
Hamas package. Palestinians saw corruption as their overriding concern, and
either ignored the rest or decided it was an acceptable price for cleaner
government. As much as the struggle with Israel, corruption had become an
obvious, if not unbearable, burden in the daily lives of average Palestinians,
and they seized the opportunity to do something about it at the ballot box.
Saudis and Egyptians would, too, most likely, as Pakistanis have when given the
chance.
In Indonesia, a similar scenario may be unfolding, with the US working the
wrong side of the street. Indonesia places in the top five in global corruption
rankings, largely thanks to the legacy of the (US-backed) Suharto regime.
Democratically elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made fighting
corruption a top priority, but progress has been spotty.
The Indonesian military, the centerpiece of Suharto's New Order, remains the
nexus of much of Indonesia's corruption, but it also remains largely beyond the
reach of civilian authorities. US moves to restore full ties with the military
will only serve to strengthen its clout and broaden its impunity (see US
'national security' favors Indonesian thugs, December 2, 2005).
One political party has made corruption its top issue and gained growing
appeal, the Prosperous Justice Party (known by its Indonesian abbreviation PKS,
which, ironically, also abbreviates the politically correct term for
prostitute). PKS was one of just two parties to gain votes in the 2004
legislative elections compared with the 1999 national vote. At its national
convention last August, PKS targeted 20% of the vote, which would place it in
the top three among Indonesia's political parties, if not the largest, and
allow it to run a presidential candidate.
Who's serving whom?
Chosen Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, then-PKS leader Hidayat
Nur Wahid (no relation to former Indonesian president and reformist cleric
Abdurrahman Wahid) won plaudits with a declaration that he would forgo many of
the job's perks, including the fancy limousine and hotel suite.
His act underscored how far PKS stands out from other parties: PKS portrays
itself as privileged to serve the public, while Indonesian politicians
typically view service as an entitlement to privilege (see Indonesia's
transition: The good, the bad and the ugly, October 20, 2004).
PKS is an Islamic party, known for working at the grassroots level through
mosques, and some adherents fear that the pursuit of political power has
distracted it from its original mission, preaching. In its campaigns, PKS plays
down extremist Islamist positions and shrouds its support for sharia (Islamic)
law. In the Far Eastern Economic Review last May, Sadanand Dhume sounded alarm
bells about PKS's fanaticism, an article that may have been more extreme than
any PKS views.
There is no comparison between Hamas and PKS, except that they are both
Islam-based parties that have gained by following the Koran's invocation of
dakwah, good works on Earth. The point is not how far apart they are or how
radical PKS may be now or become later. The point is that Islamism isn't what
wins votes.
In the 2004 vote, PKS also became the biggest party in Jakarta's city council.
There's no plurality for sharia in Jakarta, by far Indonesia's most
cosmopolitan and pluralistic urban center. But Jakarta is also arguably
Indonesia's corruption center, and its municipal government is famously
unresponsive and dysfunctional, except for funneling wealth to officials.
Like their Palestinian counterparts, Jakarta voters were ready to accept or
ignore PKS's Islamist baggage in favor of a more pressing issue. Indonesia's
Islamic parties have polled roughly a third of the vote in every legitimate
national election, but the door is wide open for PKS or more radical parties,
if they can establish and retain their anti-corruption credentials, to succeed
across Indonesia.
Corruption, not Islamism, is the issue that's going to win hearts and minds in
Indonesia, and the sooner Washington realizes that, the better the chances that
secular, moderate parties will continue to carry the day. It's not about
supporting the military as a bulwark against radicalism, it's about encouraging
clean government. If Bill Clinton's political adviser James Carville had the
White House's ear, he'd frame the issue in a way even George W Bush could
understand it: It's the corruption, stupid.
Gary LaMoshi has worked as a broadcast producer and print writer and editor in
the US and Asia. Longtime editor of investor rights advocate eRaider.com, he is
also a contributor to Slate and Salon.com, and a counselor for Writing Camp
(www.writingcamp.net ).
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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