At least five
regencies and municipalities in the province come under the family’s control. Her
husband, her brother, her sister-in-law, her daughter-in-law, her stepsister, her
stepbrother, and her eldest son respectively hold key political posts in the
province.
I have to shake my
head in utter amazement on how the family succeeds to wrap up their long nasty creepy
tentacles on the region. Further, a sensational rumor has it that a gang of jawara and black magic protects the
family.
Whoosh, I could feel the hair stand up on the
back of my neck!
Totally creepy! If I lived
in the province, I should be extra careful not to mess around with the family.
My relatives who have
been living in Serang confirmed that Jawara figure plays a key role in Banten, occupying
an influent position and acting as an intermediary between Bantenese people and
the political institutions. The jawara is not only a person who has
traditional martial arts skills and granted powers by local shamans, but also deals
with main business and political activities.
It’s not surprising
at all that that Ratu Atut is the daughter of the revered jawara in Banten, H. Chasan Sochib, who played key
role in the raising of the Djoko Munandar-Ratu Atut to lead Banten in 2002.
Atut’s rise to power
marked the onset of the Chasan’s
family increasingly dominated local politics in Banten. His power has enabled
him to build massive political networks and strong financial muscle to support
a run for political office, appointing many members of his family into
strategic political positions, both at legislative and executive levels.
Guess what? That’s when the small
octopus becomes a giant octopus having massive tentacles to get hold of power
and wealth in Banten.
It’s
a common knowledge that the business of being in politics is just a lucrative
as a person who, from one generation to another, inherits and succeeds the
profitable business conglomerate belonging to his forebears.
This is the essence of political
dynasties – treating your political bailiwicks as your family business domain
and passing the leadership and authority over these places in a sequential
order from one generation to another.
The more the concentration of wealth,
power and influence is in the family, the higher the chances of political
dynasties to stay longer and get perpetuated.
Now, the family is
under heavy public scrutiny. Their accumulated wealth is now on the grill. The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and
the government’s Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) have released separate reports
alleging severe budget misuse by Atut’s Banten government.
As investigators continue to unearth bad deeds and the unraveling of
ill-gotten wealth or traditionally powerful liaisons, her administration has
been allegedly fired to have committed embezzlement schemes, including the
creation of more than a dozen fake or illegitimate organizations and billions
stolen in marked-up public projects.
Gee, it shouldn’t have
surprised me that history always repeats itself.
When Soeharto was
dethroned by people’s power, one by one his faults were vulgarly exposed and
put on display including rumors on black magic and shaman.
Yet, to our dismay, instead
of learning from the past, these little kings and queens patronized the deposed
President.
Don’t they should
know better that if they live in a flashy luxurious life while most citizens
live a hand to mouth, there must be something wrong in the system? That voices
of the masses will eventually bring them down.
For that reason, the
ferocity of some of the reactions this week had me thinking that they are justified.
Something in the water is totally making us extra jumpy. These among many other such stories
reinforce the idea that political dynasties are the Achilles heel to the basic
right of citizens to decide whoever they entrust with the business of running
their government.
Are
political dynasties good or bad?
Well, in my personal point of view, political
dynasties are not bad or good per se.
They
can be good to the extent that they are serving the will and interests of the
people. After all, many political dynasties are cast in positive light such as the
Kennedys, Bushes, and Clintons in the USA; and Gandhi in India.
They
can also be bad if they turn democracy into a
fascist state believing and acting as if they are the sole authority always
above the law without moral limits, feeling so superior all in the pursuit of
power. I think the Filipinos and Syrians have had enough of these.
Unfortunately, most of our political dynasties have become corruptive
and collusive along the way, filling their empires filled with treasures of the
country’s wealth and most precious resources. Power and control make a man
drunk: callous coarseness and depravity develop in him; believing they are ‘gods’.
Thus,
each political dynasty should be viewed through its own unique lenses for its
merits and demerits. It is is a very complicated
issue. It’s very much similar to the antitrust proposal that seeks to regulate
monopoly and/or unfair competition in the business sector when it’s very much
clear that the source of monopoly and unfair competition is the government
itself and its protectionist policies and regulations.
In keeping up with political dynasties, we must take heed of
President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words as he said, "The liberty of a
democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the
point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its
essence is fascism; ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any
controlling private power."
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