The
Honorable Mr. Prabowo Subianto,
I am writing
this letter in English, hoping for a dismal chance that your campaign
strategist, Mr. Rob Allyn, might be able to read it also.
“I will
respect the will of the Indonesian people,” nine words that you keep repeating
but have yet to turn into action. In more than one occasion you stated that
your opponent hasn’t explicitly stated the exact same sentence. “Not once,” you
kept stressing the technicality of those nine words.
My question
to you, dear Sir, does it matter if Mr. Jokowi has explicitly stated it exactly
the way you did or not? Isn’t it IMPLIED? Moreover, why does it matter whether
he said it in exactly such manner when what matters more is the sincerity of
words uttered and the concrete actions to be done? Is it better to say nothing
explicitly but act in such a way that is consistent with honoring the people’s
will, compared to you repeating those nine words while in other occasions
refuting yourself by stating that “losing is not an option”?
Your inconsistency
is more wearisome than Mr. Jokowi’s silence. Somehow I get the sense that your
camp’s will is to win, by any means necessary, including my publicly stating that
you will respect the results of the election while privately mobilizing your
mercenaries to make sure the victory is ultimately yours. Please prove me wrong.
I hope I’m
wrong but I think there is larger issue behind your repeated claim. Instead of
acting upon these nine words with a big heart, you instead (perhaps as
prescribed by Mr. Allyn) use these words as your latest spin. I’m curious what
it would be. Previous spins during the campaign season have worked to your
benefit. First, your camp falsely accused Mr. Jokowi as a non-muslim and of
Chinese descent. Interestingly, some people actually believed this. I guess
when a lie is repeated over and over with such a determination, some people may
actually believe it as the truth. But some of us knew better. Second, you “wrote
a letter” to Indonesian teachers, falsely asserting that Mr. Jokowi’s
administration will take away their certification incentives. Where did you get
access to the database of the nation’s teachers, a private data to which only
the Department of Education would have full access, in the first place?
Hypocritically, now you speak about unfair advantage and questionable techniques.
Touché.
But I
digress. The real issue here is those nine words and your spin on it. If you
want to get technical, let’s talk about how you could potentially define “Indonesian
people”. My fear is that you will spin this claim by honoring the will of the forty-something
percent of Indonesians who voted for you, by not conceding and pursuing this
matter to the constitutional court or even to the streets. In respecting “the
mandate” of the people who voted for you, would you be willing to create
division, even chaos, in our beloved nation? What then, will you hope to
achieve? Please prove me wrong.
My dear Sir,
you keep saying that your political coalition will control to two-thirds of the
seats in the House of Representatives. Well, that doesn’t technically mean you
have the mandate of two-thirds of Indonesian people. Remember that we elected
representatives directly, and that is not a direct mandate to you. Unless you
want to revert back to the pre-amendment UUD 1945, which stipulated that the
president is elected by the MPR. With the revision to UU MD3 in the horizon,
you could secure an absolute majority in governance (given that your fragile coalition
holds). That’s not your ultimate goal, is it? We won’t let that happen anyway.
Please prove me wrong.
The respectful
Mr. Prabowo, democracy is more than two wolves and a sheep trying to decide
what to have for dinner. Of course, the mechanism of direct presidential
election doesn’t allow for consensus. But that’s the point in exercising a mature
form of democracy. Forty-something percent of the Indonesian people did vote
for you (at least on paper, but that’s a different story). As the grand person
you often portray yourself, you should prove to us that you have a big heart and
not just big personality. As you said, the real winner is the Indonesian
people. You have the chance to rally your supporters, mercenaries, and the
people who have voted #1 for a better future without lies, intimidation, or
fear. Then, you will have proved to us that you are that great leader you claim
to be.
At the end,
your nine words remaining: “I will respect the will of the Indonesian people”.
I have only two words for you: PROVE IT.
Respectfully,
Putu Chris
Susanto
Educator
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