RETHINKING ON WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT POLITICAL PUPPET

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.