The Stump fancies himself as a bit of political pundit albeit one severely bruised by the Conservative party collapse in Australia and the USA. Although Australia’s conservative party leader (for want of a better term) Malcolm Turnbull only claim to fame is his infamous destruction of the Republican Debate in Australia a few years back. No one trusted him then and no one trusts him now.
Never the less, Indonesian Politics leaves any reasonable person like a pianist trapped in a flock of Galahs, hearing shed-loads of noise but unable discern any rhyme or reason from the shreechs of the preening plumaged parasites.
Golkar, the once dominant party of Suharto and still recognised as the vehicle of power and presence by the Indonesian elite and connected, was soundly thrashed and shellacked in the recent in Indonesia elections. Now as to be expected Golkar is undergoing a period of renewal, only in Indonesia this obviously means a period of back to the bad old days of money politics and connections. The much coveted Golkar Chairman's position is being pursued by (amazingly):
1. Aburizal Bakrie, The current (ok this always makes the Stump chuckle) Coordinating Minister for the People’s Welfare, at one time reputed to Indonesia’s richest man and rightly or wrongly forever linked to the Sidoarjo mudflow tragedy which left thousands homeless with little help on the horizon.
2. Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto reportedly has an interest in teaming up with current politician Yuddy Chrisnandy. You all remember Tommy, he was the bloke convicted and sentenced in 2002 to fifteen years jail for paying a hitman to kill Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him of graft. Other charges included illegal weapons possession and running from the law. Of course, justice was done the Indonesian way and he was released after serving four years (No wonder Corby is going insane).
3. The eldest daughter of former president Soeharto, Siti Hardiyanto Rukmana or Tutut is thinking about making a run for the prize as well. Tutut is rumoured (although this is disputed) to own the Citra Lamtoro Gung Group, with interests in more than 90 companies ranging from telecommunications to infrastructure, including tollway projects. On 19 February 19 of 2001, Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana was reportedly banned from leaving Indonesia due to corruption allegations for one year
It’s often an admirable trait not to be swayed by popular opinion but for a Political Party already demonstrably seriously on the nose with the people, it beggars belief that Golkar could honestly think this is anything but treating the Indonesian people with anything other than utter contempt.
Meanwhile other only in Indonesia moment was the outrageous and enormously amusing sight of the Nationalistic zombie rent a yobbos railing at the Malaysians for stealing a Balinese dance and using for Malaysian Tourism.
The irony of the copy centre of South East Asia complaining about copyright and intellectual property infringements was a truly precious moment. It became even more amusing when it turned out after a number of “nasty” official letters from the Indonesian Government to Malaysia that the said dance was purely the brainstorm of an advertising agency not even based in Malaysia...Ooops...is our face red...again. It’s also extremely problematic to for such a Java centric government to be claiming any kind of rights to a Balinese dance in the first place.
One can only marvel at the long suffering Indonesians who have to tolerate such fools day in and day out.
Still no one can say it’s not fun to watch.
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