Worse Than Robbery

This news from AFP in the Jakarta Post got my attention. Short enough for a full quote:

Sisters in Japan hide millions in boxes: official

(AFP) — Japanese authorities on Tuesday arrested two sisters for allegedly hiding some 58 million dollars in cardboard boxes to evade tax on their inheritance, an official said. It was the largest sum of inheritance money ever concealed from authorities in Japan, said the official from the National Tax Agency, which arrested the women in cooperation with police in the western city of Osaka.

Hatsue Shimizu, 64, and Yoshiko Ishii, 55, inherited money after their father, who was in the real estate and financial business, died three years ago."They concealed most of the money in cash" in a shed attached to Shimizu's house, the Osaka tax official said. "We have confiscated 50 cardboard boxes" packed with cash, he said.
The sisters, who hold South Korean nationality, allegedly failed to declare 5.9 billion yen (58 million dollars) out of a total of 7.5 billion yen they inherited from their father.

Once a friend of mine, a Jap’s working for the MOF, told me about the horrible inheritance tax in his country. No inkling to it anywhere in the news, of course; the reporter's lense might have been geared toward justifying the process of culpritization of the innocent. Or perhaps s/he'd been simply unaware of it.

My sympathies go to the sisters.

Some things our eyes can’t see, but sometimes we are compelled to see them clearly. This is the direction most governments are going to: paternalism, governmentalism or statism (or whatever name attached to it) that rips off citizens of their own property further and further.

Brutally honest writers have likened taxation as robbery--a legalized one. Close enough, but nay: it’s even far worse! Unlike robbery, taxing can turn an evil into an angel, a good man criminal.

Post-Soeharto Indonesia

Time through the ink of history—and the hands of historians--will testify whether RI’s ex-president Soeharto will escape through his demise as a villain, or be immortalized as a hero, or a bit of both.

This can wait; meanwhile, the timely question seems to gravitate over the post-Soeharto situation at home. Yes, post-Soeharto Indonesia, what is it like?

It's rather easy to answer. The fact is, we have lived it for almost 10 years now! It started one late afternoon on May 21, when he resigned as a president, saying his own words that “I have decided to quit”, back in 1998. Following the statement, he had practically ostracized himself from the political ground. Yet, his resignation did not, by any means, mean a weakening of his strong grips, not even when he is no longer around us, let alone over what went immediately after that fateful day, on to what is happening today and what will unfurl beyond.

The extensive and intensive media coverage around his illness and demise was clearly not his own design. Clearly it suggests that Soeharto still remained very dear to many—most conspicuously among the powers that be, within the media bigwicks, and the most gullible public. Whatever successes our former president has done over his three decades of power, and whatever failures for that matter, cannot have been appropriately attributed solely to his own finesse and flaws.

Speaking strictly, it would be impossible to dissect post-Soeharto situation in the country and classify it under separate rubrics such as political, economic, legal compartments, et cetera. It would in fact involve a grave fallacy, simply because they are closely interlinked. For the sake of convenience, this posting only offers random notes based on his legacies and some unfinished business

Dubious Ascent to Power

Was Soeharto, through the 11 March 1966 instruction, really mandated by President Soekarno to take control of the chaotic situation? The fact speaks for itself. The whereabout of the original document has remained shrouded in mystery. Part of our energy will have to be geared towards solving this seeming perennial problem. One would be tempted to question as to what had kept him from spilling the beans. Had he been truly mandated by Soekarno, and had he had genuine concern over the young nation, he would have given the issue his best thoughts, since it is far more than just about his personal dignity.

Criminal Records

Pending investigation on alleged abuses criminal charges against Soeharto; five major cases here include the arrest of some 10,000 political activists in Buru island between 1969-1979; mysterious shootings of about 5,000 people (aka. Petrus cases in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan) in 1981-1985, July 27 of 1997 incident involving supporters of PDI-P; the Tanjung Priok case (killing 24 people and injuring hundreds of others in 1984 and the case of Military Operation Areas (DOM) in Aceh and Papua from 1970s-1990s) cases of kidnapping and abuses.

Militaristic Overzeal

The loud message coming out from his stretched two and thirty years in power is that of strong militaristic domination. His personal ‘success’ has been Indonesia’s systemic failure as a nation. Most generals or mayor generals today seem to nurture a false calling that they should run this country. Participation of many military officers in practical politics today is indicative—some are even running governmental offices while still retaining their military positions. This phenomenon will remain a serious challenge to civil citizens.

Possibly inseparable from his military background, Soeharto’s leadership has been one notoriously reliant on authoritarianism, personal charisma, likes and dislikes, violence and fear-instillation. His own downfall is a lesson that there is no such thing as real true friend in politics; only perennial interest exists. Some politicians may learn the lesson the wrong way; they will be tempted to loot the country as long as they wear the red and white badge of power.

Corruption and Legal Impotence

Moreover, countless cases of mega corruption have been charged and alleged against Soeharto, his family members and aides. After ten years the state of the matter has not altered much, and as long as we remain sane, we still have very little reason indeed to believe that they will be . A particular setback in the case of Soeharto against the Time Magazine, where the latter has been made the culprit, is tell-tale enough as to how issues have evolved in this area.

Progress and setback in legal enforcement will reflect itself in the manner the current authorities treat the legal cases implicating him. Supremacy of the law itself is being put under its acid test.

Performance of Post-Soeharto Governments

The fact that four presidents succeeding Soeharto, namely BJ. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and SBY have displayed mediocrity, if not worse performance than that of Soeharto, could generate its own detriments. The lack of freedom of the distant past could be mistaken as stability; and stability and government favoritism could be misguidedly recalled as a sign of prosperity. Despite the fact that Indonesia’s rice independence only occurred for 2-3 years only throughout the stretched Soeharto regime, some people refuse to believe in the myth; they want to believe that life under Soeharto’s New Order was better.

Passion for Debt

A great passion for debts that started since the early days of the Republic has grown into a critical issue. Indonesia has resorted practically to all kinds of ways imaginable to borrow and inflate its own money. Persistent fiscal deficits and the mounting figures of governmental debts speak for themselves. Deferring repayments and creating new debts are a deadly combination that will strangulate its citizens to death.

Decentralization

Advocates of decentralization must have amazingly believed in the costly assumption that governments are a benevolent factor to the citizens. The naïve assumption has been challenged by the many reports that suggested it to be otherwise, such as those on rampant regional corruptions; local investment barriers; the fact that more than 70% of regional budgets are being spent for governmental expenditures; and the likes. The big bang decentralization will remain a pain in the neck for a long time, particularly regarding fiscal burdens, demarcation of authority problem, setting of minimum service standards, etc.

This security checking must stop

“We are the people (that our parents warn us about).” -- A bumper sticker.

HERE'S ADVICE for companies in need of creating better and more friendly environment. Stop security checking by the gateway. Stop harboring suspicion. Instead, let’s start nurturing trust.

Sound too naïve? To most building managers, it certainly does. But just get anywhere on Jakarta’s main roads—say Jalan Soedirman. Pick any office building and try to enter it. Chances are the security officers will have to halt and check you out, even if you have worked there for years. For you may be one of those bad guys.

The belief that men ought to suspect others has resurfaced after the 9/11; indeed, Bush’s political propaganda warring terrorism has been met with frenzy repercussions. As for Indonesia, national tragedies in Bali and Poso may well have been our unfortunate versions that helped heighten the disquieting atmosphere. No good site-managers exist who do not have robotic security checking implemented. World’s urbanites are teaching children that we are all potential crooks, and we should fear ourselves more.

As implied, such disbelief in humanity is hardly new. Some thinkers of the past did “specialize” themselves in focusing on the dark side of human soul. Never before is every single one pf us being regarded as a fox to our fellowmen than it is in our age.

Is such a philosophical maxim absolutely true? No longer must we believe that each of us being is also capable of being good. Otherwise, why chose and amplified the dark side? Why made suspicion a principle?

It is time to challenge the trend. Crimes committed by individuals do happen once in a while but they are actually petty and few, especially when compared to the devastation caused by, say, wars. Besides, this conspicuous security control is not always suitable for all kinds of businesses, for all kinds of office buildings. Certain businesses may need extra security. Security aspect has been included early on in every recruitment process. Employees are advised to wear tags partly for this reason. Reception desks registering guests are designed partly with such precaution.

Moreover, most security checking only becomes a routine done half-heartedly.
Unnecessarily it steals away our precious minutes. The long queue of vehicles entailing the process is, really, the last thing we need after the grueling traffic jams.

Therefore, this mostly useless practice must stop. Apart from yielding greater efficiency, this means putting more trust in fellowmen and respect to workers, differed as they are according to the role they play within the division of labor.

Convincing building managers on the benefits of this trusting business is no easy matter. They may think this proposal stupid. Yet, we all know that working environment used to be more friendly, more human. We know of the time when human beings were better more appreciated.

In the end, we are all workers. It's time, really, to re-appreciate ourselves.
(12/8)