Goenawan Mohamad

“I am no Nelson Mandela… and Indonesia is not South Africa”, Pramoedya Ananta Toer says in an interview, in reply to a criticism of his position on Gus Dur’s idea of reconciliation.

No doubt Pramoedya is right. In today’s Indonesia, no one, including him, is a Nelson Mandela. And true enough there are major differences between the Indonesian and South African experiences.

The evening of 22 June 1996 began with a spectacle of red bandannas. About 70 people, mostly in their twenties, packed the neon-lighted conference room of the Jakarta Legal Aid Bureau’s office. Almost everyone had a red scarf tied around the neck, almost everyone was skinny and emaciated, and the room had an air of excitement and of brazenness.

Obviously, it was an unusual evening. The young people were celebrating the birth of a new political party, the PRD (Partai Rakyat Demokratik, or the Democratic People’s Party). In one bold stroke, they produced two acts of defiance against the Soeharto regime. The regime had declared it illegal to set up a political movement or party without the government’s permission, and the PRD people challenged this openly. The Soeharto regime created a widespread fear of anything “leftist”, and threatened anyone fostering an opinion tainted with Marxist ideas. Against this, the young people with red bandannas stood up. Under the watchful eyes of government spies, they openly hoisted the banner of the Left.

The evening was also marked by an award-giving ceremony, honouring people and institutions regarded by some as the enemies of the regime, including among others novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer and Tempo news weekly.

Lanjut..

DESAS-DESUS dapat berarti teror. Desas-desus juga bisa jadi akibat rasa takut yang panjang. Ia bisa membuat orang waspada. Tetapi, ia juga bisa jadi hanya sesuatu yang lahir karena rasa asyik dengan suasana tegang di masyarakat.

Dulu ia disebut juga sebagai “kabar angin”, karena tak jelas sumbernya dan disampaikan dari mulut ke mulut. Kini penyebaran itu mengikuti perkembangan teknologi: dari satu pesan internet ke pesan internet lain.

Cyber-rumour ini memang gejala masa informasi sekarang, ketika produksi informasi jadi mudah dan kilat, demikian juga penyebarannya. Sudah banyak yang berbicara tentang bahaya banjir bandang informasi, dan saya hanya akan menambahkan sedikit. Problem dari cyber-rumour itu bukan saja dalam hal jumlah, tetapi karena pesan-pesan intemet itu hampir tanpa memerlukan tuntutan untuk mempertanggungjawabkan kebenarannya. Bahkan dapat dikatakan, bahwa di zaman intemet ini, desas-desus menemukan sarananya yang paling tepat. Malah lebih efektif. Lanjut..