By: Fandi Ahmad*
Lately, there was highly trending in social media about the New Order which was about to be restarted if Prabowo Subianto was elected as a President of the 2019-2024. This statement was stated by the son of former President Suharto, Titiek Soeharto. which states that if Prabowo won the upcoming presidential election, he would continue his father’s struggle by imposing a similar leadership style. One of the previous programs was the New Order.
The New Order itself left many impressions that were not good in the eyes of the Indonesian people. So, should the New Order be revived when Prabowo is truly elected President of the Republic of Indonesia? The possibility that this will trigger a bitter event in the past repeats the face of this millennial era. As we know, history recorded some horrifying negative effects when the New Order was running at that time.
Instead of wanting to close the dark past with new and fully innovative programs so that there is a safe and advanced country, few people try to revive the New Order, which leaves much sorrow. Despite having a number of successes, the New Order also had a myriad of problems.
The first negative side of the rise of the New Order was the possibility of the government to be authoritarian. The impact of this authoritarian government is community activities that are not free to work because they are limited in relation to the global world. So that people tend to be supported. Even though, this is the millennial era.
Ampther negative point is the economic field. At that time, corruption, collusion and nepotism took place on a large scale. Wealth is enjoyed by only a part of it without the freedom of other people to participate in enjoying the business. Thus, finally the rate of the economy is only held by a handful of people, so that the people do not participate in enjoying it.
Indonesia’s unhealthy political world also had a negative impact from the New Order. This was proven by only 3 parties at that time and only one party as the party that continued to win, while the other party was considered as a condition only so that the Indonesian state was still called a democracy.
In addition to this negative side, it has also been recorded throughout Indonesian history regarding deviations in the New Order era that were carried out by all of the founders of the New Order. one example is uneven development. Even though this development has been planned by the government. However, in practice, development in the area with the center has experienced irregularities. The reason is that the area’s assets have been mostly dredged by the center.
The next deviation is the absence of freedom of opinion. The people seemed silenced and the government did not accept criticism. This ultimately affected the prohibited opposition.
A series of negative points from the New Order were also mentioned as the root cause of the riots that occurred at that time. So, does it still need a system like this to be re-enacted to appease the Indonesian people? While history has recorded many horrific cases arising from the New Order.
Prabowo, who was called by Titiek Soeharto, would continue the New Order and imitate Soeharto’s leadership style, of course, inviting many rejections from the people. The community itself considers Prabowo not to imitate anyone’s leadership style. He must have a strong identity with a dignified character to alleviate all aspects of the problems that are happening on the earth of Indonesia. Instead it re-enacted the New Order which at that time left memories not good. Moreover, this is the millennial era. The community certainly has many objections if Prabowo becomes the President will really carry out Suharto’s way to lead and enforce the New Order. Because, in the millennial era democratization must be maintained, including issuing freedom of opinion that was difficult to do in the pre-Reformation era.
Many people also consider if the presidential and vice presidential candidate pair number 2 Prabowo – Sandi really became president then Indonesia will go to the stone age, where everything will be tightly controlled with the appendix of Pancasila and the Constitution 45. The Return of the New Order opportunity to create an authoritarian government, monopoly of capital by certain groups, and the formation of absolute parties. Of course this is very undesirable by all levels of Indonesian society. They will reject the system of government as such.
Every regime certainly has its positive and negative sides. Nevertheless, the public is expected to be able to weigh wisely what the potential will be if the New Order is resurrected in the current era. The New Order system also only applied in the era of Soeharto, not in the current era where half the world’s population is connected to the internet. It’s time for the public to move on from New Order romanticism and work smarter to be able to navigate a number of challenges ahead.
*) The author is an observer of political issues