Have You Changed, Mr. President?

IN A QUANDARY. As the supreme commander, pressure is piling on Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's shoulder to take more decisive act towards the perpetrators of the defamation plot of KPK executives.

After a prolonged time of silence, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has finally announced his ruling on the rift between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police; yet his approach on the case by pronouncing such vague statement raises an even bigger question mark for Indonesians: is this really the man who once astonished Indonesian people because of his industrious efforts in fighting graft?

Indonesians’ concern is very much understandable: for a president whose efforts in eradicating corruption in Indonesia had earned him a worldwide recognition and a landslide victory during the last presidential election, so far his response to the rift between the Police and KPK fell very short from the expectations. And that vague statement of his also doesn’t feel like the solution to our apprehension.

Besides, before the statement itself, his previous silence about this KPK case has raised disputes already regarding his consistency in fighting corruption–many even pointed out the possibility of his involvement in the plot to undermine the once larger-than-life commission as his name was repeatedly mentioned on the wiretapping tape.

The election few months ago was my first election experience and in fact I was one of his supporters who wholeheartedly marked his face in the ballot during the last presidential election, but so far his undecided stance towards this case has let me down. I see his previous statement as no sign of a sturdy president who once impressed me by his valiant act to throw his own son’s father-in-law to incarceration; it seems more like a statement that comes from an irresolute general whose indecisiveness seems likely to disappoint his citizens who have put many hopes in his shoulder.

If Yudhoyono really wants to fulfill his past promise of pushing a bureaucratic reform in Indonesia, there is no better target to be set as his priority than the National Police and the Attorney General Office (AGO) –and after all their disgraces have been made public because of this case; this seems to be the perfect moment. In fact, the reputation of Indonesian National Police and Attorney General Office have been very bad already among Indonesians –so bad that I recall that in one of the classes which I attended, my lecturer even laughed off the feasibility of the government’s plan to reform the severely dilapidated bureaucracy of Indonesian National Police and the AGO.

“They are just too bad and that reformation thing is just a waste of the government state budget; they should do revolution (to the police and AGO) and not reformation,” she said. “Do you know the difference between revolution and reformation? Revolution means dissolving the whole institution and building a brand new one afterwards.”

Yudhoyono should have tackled such concern and implemented his actions toward those ramshackle institutions long time ago. And after this case occurs and people’s confidence towards the National Police and the AGO has plunged to its lowest level, many people –including my lecturer– may be wondering: why he has still not taken any serious act yet to those institutions?

But I soon realize that instead of being recognized as a frontline general who leads his army to confront enemies at the vanguard, Yudhoyono is renowned as a thinker general; a brilliant strategist who is expert in planning a strategy so his army can come out victorious in the end.

Because of his recent indecisiveness, I am starting to wonder if his brilliant strategy has successfully deceived me to give my vote to him. Was Yudhoyono really the person who threw Aulia Pohan to jail? Or actually it was KPK who did it and thus should deserve the credit; while Yudhoyono actually did nothing and just let him jailed as part of his strategy because he knew that freeing him at that time would surely diminish his popularity among us and hurt his chance of winning the re-election?

It doesn’t make sense to me because if throwing his own son's father-in-law to jail would be so easy like that, then why can’t he do the same thing to those high-rank police officers whose involvement in the plot to defame two KPK deputies proved to be obvious?

Only Yudhoyono himself knows the answer. It has been merely a month since he was inaugurated as our president, but his once flawless legacy of combating corruption in Indonesia is now in doubt already as he still stands unmoving albeit the KPK is being continually undermined.

Mr. President, puzzling statement like the one you said few days ago is not the thing needed to regain the trust of Indonesians; what is more necessary is your concrete and decisive action in helping the KPK and giving punishment to the case’s culprits. By doing so, you will return to the track that will lead you to an Indonesian president whose legacy of fighting corruption will be remembered in many years from now. And by doing so you can also prove to us that you are still the same Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono whose face on the ballot we marked wholeheartedly during the last presidential election.

This article was published in The Jakarta Post on Thursday, December 3 2009

Deception Point.

POKER FACE. Once devoted himself to serve the people and the nation, now National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri turns out to be the nation's public enemy as Indonesians find out about his evil plot to slander the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) executives.

I just can’t stop reading newspapers’ headlines recently. I have read spellbinding stories whose storylines contain one of the most complicated conspiracies in the world’s history such as Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Adolf Hitler’s operation Valkryie, or Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme, but watching television and reading newspaper these weeks makes me wonder about changing my notion of considering those stories as mind-gripping.

In other words, for me those storylines are nothing but boring compared to the high-tense thriller that I am following right now.

If you are reading this at the moment and actually you don’t really understand what is going on in this fierce slugfest between Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Indonesian Police, I highly suggest you to read yesterday’s newspaper archives or watch television more frequently to comprehend the chronicle.

In fact, this saga is very interesting –so interesting that I think someone should write book or make movie about this whole thing. As the story grows more and more astonishing each day, this may be the world’s most enthralling drama in decades and therefore it should not be missed.

Like Hollywood movies, the rift between the police and KPK put its spectators on the edge of their seats as the saga goes beyond its initial means. New characters whose role was proved to be significant on the story’s plot are introduced every week. Initially the battle only involved high-rank police officers against their enemies, the anti-graft commission deputies, but as now the case has broadened it unexpectedly drags many popular names like Adnan Buyung Nasution, Abdul Hakim Ritonga and M.S Kaban into the fuss –even our president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was said to have his hands involved in this highly controversial case.

But you don’t have to be a smart person to realize that there’s definitely something wrong with this case –even an undergraduate student like me can comprehend the reason why huge public resentment towards the Police and the government exists at the moment.

We saw on the live television broadcast already how National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri and National Police chief of detectives Susno Duadji performed during the hearing in front of the House of Representatives. Those bandits seem to cover themselves with the hero mask: the way they convincingly persuaded the House of Representatives and tried to regain the trust of million Indonesians who watched their live performance, the way they played the role as if they were on the same side as the KPK’s in enforcing the law and corruption eradication in Indonesia –it was simply a sort of performance you would expect from Oscar-winning actors.

Thanks for all the seemingly perfect acting dear police officers, but only donkey falls to the same hole two times. Indonesian people are no donkeys; now with Ari Muladi and Williardi Wizard have unfolded your evil thoughts to frame the KPK leaders and shown to us how dilapidated your organization actually is, we just cannot have faith in you anymore.

We can also recall that the KPK tape have clearly unfurled Anggodo’s crucial role on the plot to undermine the once larger-than-life commission. Surprisingly, at the moment he still wanders freely as he was released by the police with their vague argument of ‘not sufficient evidence’.

The villain is well ahead of the good guy by now since the justice is only yet to be erected –and the villain will still be in this vantage point if culprits like Anggodo, Susno Duadji, and Bambang Hendarso Danuri are still free out there and far from being locked-up in the place where they truly deserve to be in.

Indonesians were presented with numerous shrewd trickeries already in this saga. But the story is far from over as many vital characters like Yulianto and Yuliana Oeng are still hiding behind the curtain and waiting to be introduced to the stage. At some point, the show will be crammed with its entire performers and the storyline becomes more puzzling than ever. Just then it will be very interesting while we can only wonder what kind of ending this story will offer.

Who will win? Beware crocodiles; you are not playing the good guy role here. And storylines in Hollywood movies are famous for the concept of: at the end of the story, it’s the good guy who always prevails.

Talk Less, Do More is the Principle of Boedionomics

Mr. Fix-It. Don't get fooled by his soft-spoken words; this guy hides his light under a bushel. Accomplish first, talk later on–here in economics we speak with data, fellas.

(photo by Sinartus Sosrodjojo)

My friend Miranti sat nervously right beside me when we were waiting for the vice-president elect Boediono to give his lecture to around 300 students, lecturers, and other economics academicians inside the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics auditorium last month on September 14.

“I think he’s definitely the right man for the job. You know, both of my parents are big fans of him and during the presidential election my father continuously told me about how humble he is and how his overwhelming economics knowledge can bolster up Indonesia’s economy in the future,” she said.

At that time, the excitement of hearing his lecture live and seeing the vice-president elect in person was extremely high among us the economics students–so high that the auditorium seats had been fully booked three days before the lecture itself.

But in the end, Miranti’s massive excitement, as well as other 300 University of Indonesia academicians’, turned out to be a massive disappointment.

During his 2-hour lecture, Boediono presented us a tedious show as he resembled a professor who was more concerned to his textbook rather than the mood of his pupils. Despite the fact that the person who was giving the lecture up front was actually a vice-president elect, he fell short to the expectation and actually his lecture made no difference compared to few of my lecturers’ classes in FEUI to which I played truant frequently because of their monotonous teaching-style.

But as the lecture ended and many of my friends walked out with dissatisfaction and regretted their decision to attend his lecture, I still walked out with bliss since his performance on the stage was very much I had anticipated even before he took the floor: that Boediono is a dyed-on-the-wool technocrat who is renowned neither from his inspiring words nor how he performed on his speeches –it’s his accomplishment in bringing Indonesia’s economy to the highest level which raised him to prominence.

Notable for his terrific achievement of fixing Indonesia’s macroeconomic framework in the 2001 dream-team cabinet with Prof. Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Tjakti and nicknamed as ‘the man who get the job done’ while he is still working in the Indonesian treasury, as a technocrat Boediono learned that he was always judged by how he accomplish his job and not by his ability of gaining short recognition from his crowds with stirring words–where in politicians’ mind it is exactly the opposite.

“From a technocrat to a half-politician –it’s a completely unimaginable transformation for me,” he said at the beginning of his lecture.

In fact, technocrats were born to be working in the background and therefore they are accustomed in the habit of not talking too much. We can see that while today SBY’s cabinet is dominated with many politicians who fight over the ministerial seats for the interest of their own political party which they represent, Boediono’s fellow economics technocrats like Faisal Basri, Chatib Basri, and Raden Pardede are still waiting sedately in the wings to be appointed to the field of job where they are considered best.

One of the examples about the modesty of technocrats can also be seen when those technocrat friends of Boediono’s remain quiet even though deep inside their mind they are likely to laugh off SBY’s politicized decision to interview National Mandate Party’s (PAN) Hatta Radjasa as the coordinating minister for the economy –regardless by the fact that many people consider them to be more capable than Hatta as he possesses neither economic background nor any noteworthy experience previously in handling the economy.

In case of Boediono himself, I was very impressed when this 66-year old technocrat was always able to keep his head cool and still replying with his soft-speaking words when the likes of Prabowo Subianto and Wiranto violently criticized him in various issues during the vice-presidential debates in the previous election.

Let me tell you this Pak Prabowo and Pak Wiranto: In the next five years Indonesia’s future is yet to be defined; at this crucial moment we definitely don’t need smart alec people who are more competent in mouthing words but have no competence of implementing them into actions.

Pak Boed, despite your failure to live up to our expectations during the lecture, on behalf of the yellow jacket academicians I want to say thank you for your willingness to spare your busy time to lecture us and we all were grateful to experience such rare opportunity.

This is simply because we believe that actions speak louder than words: you may not be expert in doing speeches and inspiring people by your words, but getting tough tasks done and inspiring people by your hard-working attitude are the things that you are really excel at, aren’t they?

And yes we still support you wholeheartedly. As you are now officially elected as our vice-president and hold a more strategic role in the economy of Indonesia, we know that during the next five years of your term we can expect many great improvements in our economy to come from your economics aptitude–which we consider to be more important rather than just sweet niceties that were frequently uttered by your rivals during the last presidential election.

This article was published in The Jakarta Post on Thursday, October 22 2009

The Man Behind the Magical Words

Whiz-kid. The 27-year-old Jon Favreau (right) is the person behind Obama's imposing speech -and he has proven to us that if you are truly eager to reach your career's pinnacle; your age doesn't really play a part in accomplishing that dream.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

…it's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

….yes we can.”

(Barack Obama, acceptance speech, November 4 2008)

In this world, there are two types of profession. The first is the ones who work right underneath the highlight and savor recognition and popularity through his job –people like news announcer, actors, or sport athletes are within this category.

And there are people who work in background; the ones who actually play the role as important as the first type’s yet do not receive much recognition or popularity due to their behind-the-scene job.

As a president of the United States, Barack Obama can be considered very much the first type. Those moving speeches of his, like the lines that were written at the beginning, inspires many people not only Americans but also all the citizens of world.

But he wasn't really the one who made it –it’s the second-type person who actually wrote those imposing words to him.

Of all the shivering Americans who were awed by Barack Obama's inspirational speech, few realized that Jonathan Favreau, 27, was the man who played the most essential role behind the assembly of all those imposing words. Favreau, who was dubbed as the youngest-person speechwriter ever for US presidential inauguration few months ago, has achieved something that can be considered atypical for a person who is still on his relatively young age.

From college to White House, from jeans and polo-shirt to a formal suit with tie; now the merely 27-year old guy has an almost unlimited access to the oval office -Barack Obama’s prestigious workplace- as he is appointed as the director of speechwriting for the new president.

“Barack trusts him,” said David Axelrod, Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist. “And Barack doesn’t trust too many folks with that — the notion of surrendering that much authority over his own words.”

"I call him Mozart because he's just this young creative genius." He added. (quoted from The New York Times)

True, this guy has humbly been working in the background and received less recognition than the one who enunciated his words, yet TIME Magazine still acknowledged him as his powerful words earned him a place in the magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2009.

And that’s a hell of achievement for a young person who, unlike his allies in the 100 list, spent his working time in Starbucks writing and researching with a coffee and a bottle of Red Bull as his companies (what a cool way to work indeed). You know, surely most of the person who are listed in TIME Magazine’s 100 list do not have time to hang out in the café like Starbucks.

But it wasn’t the café that matters; he went there as part of his job anyway –besides, the only peculiar thing about his habit of going to Starbucks is the place is considered an uncommon place to be your office. Talking about his work, it is said that when Obama’s campaign intensified he stayed late until 3am to finish his writing and woke up as early as 5am, and even worked 16 hours a day during that time.

The upshot was worth the sweat however; now the girls can only go crazy after him as this Adam Levine look-alike White House executive, still on his mid 20s, has been able to stamp his name in the US history as one of the youngest US President’s speechwriter directors ever.

Questioned why he's still single, the cool answer that Favreau uttered may break many young girls’ hearts, “The rigors of this campaign have prevented any sort of serious relationship.”(quoted from The New York Times)

Yes, Jon Favreau is an eager beaver; and the success that he titled should be an example to follow for every young man who aims high for his future. The lesson he taught us is straightforward, do more than just dream and put every bit of your expressions into action. Do not just dream and stand still –you have to make headway in your attempt to bring a successful career into reality.