BUNG HATTA (1957): MINYAK DAN AIR TIDAK BISA BERCAMPUR
Oil and Water Do Not Mix (1957)
By Hatta
This excerpt comes from “Assessing Bung Karrno’s Conception,” an
article comnunting on the President’s Conception speech of February 21, I957 (fig),
which was published as a supplement to the Djakarta
Daily Indonesia Baja, of March 5, 1957.
When we come to examine Bung Karno’s conception of a Gotong Rojong Cabinet, we are faced with an idea which is intrinsically good and idealistic but in practice cannot be put into effect. It could only be put into effect if all parties represented in parliament shared a common goal and if their political differences concerned only how this goal was to be attained.
But it is this common goal which is lacking. Especially as between the PKI on the one hand and the religious parties and some nationalist groups on the other, there is a difference of ideology and goals which is very fundamental, so that it is difficult to bring these two together in a Gotong Ro/ong Cabinet. We can leave for the moment the question of how portfolios would be divided between these mutually suspicious groups.
Some will concede that there are indeed differences of principle between the PKI and the religious and nationalist parties as regards their ideology and view of life but go on to ask whether there are also such differences as regards goals. Yes, as regards goals, too, there are differences of principle! The aim of the religious and nationalist parties is the building-up of one national state, an Indonesian nation which will be just and prosperous. The PKI is basically part of an international movement which aims at world revolution. Its means of realizing this is by setting up proletarian dictatorships everywhere.
From time to time the Communists are allowed to adapt their tactics to accord with a particular situation, but fundamentally their struggle may not deviate from the principles laid down by Lenin which are known as democratic centralism. This means absolute obedience to the leader, and no right to disagree, in the interests of the whole. And this leader is, for Communists all over the world, Moscow.
For a Communist, the Soviet Union is the capital with which all his ideals can be realized, for the Communist struggle stands or falls by the success of the Soviet Union.
Because Soviet Russia is the pioneer of the realization of his ideals, the Communist puts the interests of its international political struggle first. In order to strengthen the position of the Soviet Union, he will, if necessary, sacrifice all other interests, including those of his own country’s freedom. This has been shown by the history of the last thirty years. As they see it, once Russia has achieved victory in its struggle against imperialism, the freedom of other countries will come of its own accord.
Absolute obedience to the leadership of Moscow is a fundamental law of life for a Communist. It is the foundation of the Communist movement’s strength. A person cannot be a real Communist unless he understands and can adapt himself to this iron discipline. So an Indonesian government in which Communists are participants can not carry out an independent foreign policy. Whatever his personal feelings may be, a Communist will be betraying his ideals if he does not put the interests of the Soviet Union first, even where these conflict with the interest of his own country.
Because of this, Bung Karno’s efforts to bring the PKI and the religious and nationalist parties together in a cabinet must fail. It is like trying to mix oil and water. There are, indeed, some among us, opportunists, who hope that the PKI can be made into a Titoist communist movement and argue that this could be done by bringing it into the cabinet to participate in carrying out national policies, including our independent and active foreign policy.
That possibility is not reasonable! The PKI will continue to take Moscow as its guide, will continue to hold fast to the fundamentals of Leninism and Stalinism. Quite apart from considerations of ideology, there is no advantage for the PKI in becoming a Titoist communist organization, a body standing by itself and competing with other parties, without any ties to international communism. This would only weaken it. The possibility does not exist, especially in view of Moscow’s present position of returning to the centralist principles of Stalin.
Bung Karno is afraid that a movement such as the PKI, which obtained six million votes in the recent elections, cannot just be left to be in the opposition. Quite apart from the question of what value one places on those six million votes, what are we to do if the groups which obtained more than three times as many votes as the PKI are unwilling to accept the PKI? To force them to accept it would sharpen the conflict and take us further away from our ideals of national peace and national unity.
But what is wrong with the PKI’s sitting in parliament as an opposition party? A good democratic government consists of government and opposition. The government acts and the opposition acts as a check on it. If the PKI acts as a good and firm opposition in parliament and does not merely obstruct and make trouble, it can influence the course of government and turn it in a favorable direction. It can prevent corruption in the government parties and so help to raise the present low level of political morality. In this way the goverment parties will be forced to give proper attention to the improvement of the lot of the common people.
Only a good and responsible opposition, one with a sense of ressponsibility for the welfare of the government and the people can contribute to the healthy development of democracy, which is parently struggling to survive.
