November 4, 2014 edition

It seems that we must be always prepared on the border between involvement and non-involvement in power. Otherwise we will be trapped.
Because we cannot hold out hope that anyone within power will always do good. Even a king, Machiavelli said, "must acquire the power to be not good."

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More Sidelines articles in other editions

January 1, 1970 edition

The throne looks glittering, but power is a dilemma. Probably the oldest comments on this can be found in the story of the Judge Samuel.
The Old Testament story tells how the aged Samuel saw his followers the Israelites attempt to choose a different political system after dishonesty had occurred.

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January 1, 1970 edition

In November 1918, the Volksraad was established. The Dutch colonial government proclaimed its promise to its colonized subjects that with this 'people's council', the process of democratization would take place. But this 'November promise' was not fulfilled: the Volksraad turned out to be incapable of accommodating or representing the voice of the people. The council members busied themselves with debate, but without much effect on the lives of the volk, the people outside the building. Haji Agus Salim, with clever sarcasm, mocked it as a 'chat comedy'.
This was only partly true. A 'comedy' has humor, whereas the words spouted in the Volksraad, on the whole, only seemed to be funny-and people laughed bitterly-because what they heard was just the noise of the beating of an empty drum.

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January 1, 1970 edition

On a tiny asteroid, a king sat alone on a throne. His huge robes spread out over the mini planet. There was no room for anyone else. In the famous tale The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupry, the prince visits this asteroid of the lonely king. The king, seeing the little prince coming, exclaims, "Ah! Here is a subject."
He is longing for subjects, it seems. We don't know for how long. What we do know from the story (which is probably a parable) is that authority can only be called authority when there are others over whom to wield authority. Further, a ruler, whether he likes it or not, always has to give legitimacy to his authority in front of others, also when those others are merely in the position of subjects. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason," the king says. "If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."

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January 1, 1970 edition

Bandits and heroes sometimes fuse in evolution.
In Indonesia, we are familiar with the story of Ken Arok. In Australia, people know the tale of Ned Kelly. In the Javanese Pararaton, written in 1481, Ken Arok is depicted as a man who started out with his life derided: "of bad behavior, severing the ties of morality, disturbing the mystical Divine, lumaku tan rahayu amegati apusira pinakapamacananing hyan Suksma." With his ruthless ambition for power, he killed anyone in his way. And he did indeed rule, becoming the founder of the Singasari Kingdom in the 14th century.

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January 1, 1970 edition

A tall, old man living in a shack with his pet monkey, his face hard, talks proudly in a fierce voice about the way he killed. I cut her breasts; milk flowed from the ducts under her nipples. Then I cut her throat.
Documentation about the cruelty in Indonesia around 1965 is growingand will continue to grow. The Look of SilenceJoshua Oppenheimer's new film, which is sort of sequel to his previous film The Act of Killingis in limited circulation here. In the recorded interviews, like the one I am quoting from memory, Oppenheimer shows his superlative skill as a documentary filmmaker and also as someone who challenges us with disturbing questions.

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September 23, 2014 edition

Imagine, there is no country.
Sometimes people get fed up with borders. I think most Indonesians entering another country feel that every immigration booth is placed to convey suspicion. The officers look at us, without a smile, as if to decipher something from the shape of our nose or ears. Usually they will sigh and fiddle with their glasses, as if to say: I will allow you into our country, but actually you are a nuisance.

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