I salute you for yet another stunning performance. And when I said stunning, I meant the honourable members were stunned. They just stood, one was constantly smiling, and (I'm sure) tried really hard not to explode. One might ask, what happened?
This time, a slap right on their faces. Yes, finally some people had the nerves to show these useless scums that they are no more than useless scums who happily take taxpayers' money to make useless overseas visits with their families under the pretext of doing a comparative study. The Indonesian student association (PPI) in Germany used a Q&A session during a meeting with the members of Commission I of the House as a chance to directly criticise these politicians and stated their objection over their visit. In the end of their harsh speech, they walked out of the room quietly and the meeting was continued as if nothing happened. Poor KBRI's host. She had to pretend she didn't hear all those insults coming from one of the students. Everything was video-tapped and uploaded to YouTube for everyone in the country (and world) to see. It quickly became the main topic on different social media, and of course the media picked up soon afterwards (note: I may well be wrong with the sequence, but nevertheless the end result is the same).
Now, let's just say, this similar situation happened when internet and social media were not so popular in Indonesia, would it get the same strong reaction? Since the student association smartly uploaded the video of the meeting on YouTube, lots of people picked this story up really fast and then spread it on an equal speed. And amen for internet. How strong is the impact of social media on Indonesia's democracy (I would advise anyone who reads this post to tread the word "democracy" carefully before abusing me with criticism)? How effective social media as a medium to create a better change in Indonesia's social and/or political life?
I honestly hope the current hype will change something. At least, I hope, the House would try hard to fulfil the student association's demands. One of them is transparency. The students asked for the House to publish a complete financial report of the visit and also a full report of the visit's results. I think it's fair, considering it, allegedly, is a comparative study-visit. They should study something and report the finding(s) and do something with their findings. You know, like any normal people do when they do a comparative study. But, my hope is not high on this matter. You see, I used to work for these people. I know how they roll, and I believe they won't do anything about the students' action. They were mortified, I'm sure. But, will that change anything? I doubt it.
I'm not trying to belittle the PPI's action at all. I appreciate their courage. There aren't many people who would do such thing, especially when it comes to the honourable members of the House. On their turf, these dudes are GODS. They are invisible. So, watching the video, looking at the expression on the House members' faces, feels great. Though, this is not the first time the House got heavily criticised by students from PPI. The PPI in Australia criticised the reason of the visit done by Commission VII in April 2011. Basically, the House members went there to do a comparative study on policies on poor people (or unlucky Australians, as the equivalent) management. However, the House members visited the country during recess period. Yes, it's beyond understanding. If you are interested, you can read the PPI's open letter to the House here and also their evaluation on the visit here.
We need to continue telling these people that they cannot do whatever they please just because they occupy an office in the government. If they are representing people, they need to start doing it now. As long as there are people like members of PPI in Germany and Australia, we can still be hopeful that maybe, just maybe, one day this country truly understands the meaning of democracy and people's representatives.
No comments:
Post a Comment