Editorial: Goodbye, people power

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 01/29/2010 10:35 AM | Opinion

Many say democracy is so costly that political leaders lose trust in it, give it no room to flourish or just kill it.

Needless to say, the country’s hard-won democracy is too high a price to sacrifice. But the noise, traffic congestions and perhaps anxiety resulting from Thursday’s mass rallies to mark the first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second term should give us a lot of cause for concern.

Jakarta sans demonstrations is already tormenting for millions of people who have to waste hours commuting from home to work and back, because of the maddening traffic jams. One urban expert put the financial losses from the city’s traffic congestions at Rp 28 trillion (US$3 billion) a year or Rp 7.6 billion a day for the fuel and productive time wasted – potential revenue lost and health problems caused. This estimate does not include the budget for security arrangements.

The figure for the losses is debatable, but nobody would dare argue about the impacts of a huge rally on the public at large. More people must endure longer commutes as the police reroute traffic away from the protest points, many business negotiations have to be delayed, and schoolchildren may have to return home earlier or perhaps stay at home for fear of possible violence.

Demonstrations have been part of democratic life in the country since the historic people power movement toppled Soeharto in May 1998. Unlike in the past, students, NGOs, civil society groups and people from all walks of life are given an equal opportunity to express their wishes and defend their causes on the street, provided they notify the police beforehand.

But with democracy in the country gradually maturing, we may need to contemplate whether demonstrations can lead to the changes to which we aspire. Demonstrating is only one of many ways to send a message, if not to mount pressure.

Several past demonstration have ended in tragedy, as in Medan last year, when an angry mob disrupted a plenary meeting of the North Sumatra Legislative Council to demand the formation of a new province. They assaulted the council speaker, who died a few hours later. This could have been avoided if the protest had not turned ugly. The rally not only caused the loss of a life, but also failed to get the message across to the policymakers.

Demonstrations will only amount to a waste of time and energy for those involved if nothing happens.

They will be reduced to a mere show of force that may exacerbate a dispute and keep opposing parties from settlement.

In stark contrast, a public movement that does not involve the mobilization of the masses can effectively reach its goals, thanks to the power of technology. The case of Prita Mulyasari and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) saga are just a few examples.

Widespread public support through the Internet social networking site Facebook not only gave Prita – on trial for emailing complaints about a hospital – a morale boost, but also confidence that she had not done anything wrong, regardless of the charges. She eventually won the legal fight, but people power was the real winner without having to involve boisterous rallies.

KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah owe a debt of gratitude to more than 1 million people who expressed support for them through Facebook, which was more than enough to prompt a move to investigate an alleged plot to frame them.

Nobody should mistake the power of demonstrating on the Internet as virtual. It is real.

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