Since few months ago, Mr. Joko Widodo, one of the candidates
for the next president of Indonesia has been accused to be merely a political ‘puppet’
of former Indonesian president and general chairman of Partai Demokrasi Indonesia
Perjuangan (PDIP), Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri. This accusation has been launched
and popularized by his political oppositions. In political vocabulary, the word
‘puppet’ may not be too positive. That word tells us that such individual does
not have independence to make his own decision. Someone else, the more powerful
one plays him or her. This short reflective thought invites us to look at some
important lessons from the above incident.
First, a puppet is
dead. It normally represents a living being, animals or humans. Puppets are ‘alive’
only when people play them. Thus, in order for the puppet to perform well and
to bring positive impacts in his or her role, there are two basic requirements.
One, the people (person) who play
behind the puppet has to be a good puppet player. If the player plays the
puppet well, the audience who view the puppet show will be happy. Two, a particular puppet will be praised
if his or her role is positive and heroic. On the other hand, he or she will be
condemned if his or her role is evil and destructive. Though I never ever agree
with the thesis that Mr. Joko Widodo is Mrs’ Megawati Soekarnoputri’s puppet,
however even if that thesis is true – being Mrs Megawati Soekarnoputri’s puppet
is not necessarily a negative reality. If Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri is a good
puppet player and is able to find positive and constructive roles for Mr. Joko
Widodo, then this puppet show will be beautiful and beneficial for the whole
country – don’t you think? Being a puppet is not necessarily wrong. It is wrong
when a puppet is in the hand of an evil player; it is wrong if that puppet,
though in the hand of a gifted player, is given a destructive and evil roles.
Second, at some degree we are actually all puppet of someone else. We often mirror others. Our lifestyle is by no means original; we simply follow our ‘idols’ or predecessors (or ancestors). If we like our leader (father, mother, teacher, pastor, etc.), we start to speak, to act and to think like the way she or he speaks, acts and thinks. Some other have been even easily trapped in a celebrity life-style simply because of the spirit: ‘I want to be like him or her’ or ‘I want to be his or her puppet’ so to speak.
Third, believe it
or not, we all like, not only to be a puppet of someone else, but also to have
puppets. A political puppet is created often to do things in favor of the real
player behind it. And to be honest, we all are happy when people do things in
favor of us voluntarily or involuntarily. My point is a simple question: Why does
it (if it is true that Mr. Joko Widodo is merely Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri’s
puppet) bother us? We blame other people based on their actions, but we ourselves
love to do those actions. Isn’t that hypocrisy?
Fourth, last and
the most important point: Mr. Joko Widodo has not actually been the victim of
being Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri’s puppet. Mr. Joko Widodo has actually been
the victim of being his own fans’ puppet. When his choice of vice president is
announced few days ago, some of Mr. Joko Widodo’s faithful fans suddenly were
not happy. Some of them expressed their unhappiness frontally in social media.
Interestingly enough, these people (previously biggest fans of Mr. Joko Widodo –
you can tell from their facebook’s timeline status) started to say that they
will not choose Mr. Joko Widodo for the president because of his choice of the
vice president. To me – I am so sorry – these people’s dream is to play Mr.
Joko Widodo to do things in favor of them. In other words, they want Mr. Joko
Widodo to be their political puppet. Or still in other word, these people want
to play what they accused Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri plays. Are we better off and
more experienced than Mrs. Megawati Soekarnoputri in providing leadership for a
big country with complex challenges such as Indonesia? Isn’t it also hypocrisy?
The purpose of this reflection is not to support or to justify the idea of
political puppet. Nor is it a campaign for Mr. Joko Widodo. The purpose of this article is to assist readers to pause for a
while and to do careful reflection on what he or she thinks about political
puppet, especially in relation with Mr. Joko Widodo as one candidate for the next
Indonesia’s president.
