Reading Megawati's Tweets

published @ The Jakarta Post

I confess that I had been one of Megawati Soekarnoputri’s critics, based on her short presidential stint in 2001–2004. Unlike her much-revered father, founding president Sukarno, she did not deliver good, interesting speeches. The content of her speeches was mostly dull, and worse, some of her policies were controversial, such as divesting the state-owned telecommunications company, Indosat, and selling cheap gas from the Tangguh field to China. 

Although these have drawn criticism since she was in office, I have never heard her defend herself. Only her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) supporters have tried to make unsatisfactory rebuttals. We may all think that she has no answers and is barely able to think independently. In which case, she implemented these policies because her ministers or advisers told her to do so. Until recently, she had put up quite a convincing case in this regard via the social media site, Twitter. 

She tweeted explanations of her controversial policies regarding Indosat and Tangguh gas on her Twitter account, @MegawatiSSP. 

After taking the helm after president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, Megawati faced a budget shortage. There was also money owing to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In addition, the country’s military equipment, including warships and fighter jets, were aging. The US had not only embargoed military spare parts due to the Dilli Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor, but it had also stationed one of its aircraft carriers at the intersection of the Java Sea and Timor Sea, infringing Indonesia’s maritime territory. The Indonesian Military (TNI) was powerless and could do nothing.

To address this, Megawati decided to divest valuable state assets, of Indosat and several other state-owned enterprises. After filling its coffers, the government paid off its IMF debt and bought military weapons from Russia and Poland, such as Sukhoi fighter jets and helicopters. New barracks for military personnel were also built and existing barracks repaired to improve morale. 

At the same time as improving its military hardware, the government launched soft power initiatives through intensifying diplomatic ties with Russia, China, North Korea and Eastern European countries. This sent a strong and clear message to the US on which bloc Indonesia was in if the former’s aircraft carrier kept sailing in our territory. 

Another source of money the government had was the Tangguh gas field. Unfortunately, China was the only potential buyer and investor for exploitation, as Indonesia was competing against another supplier, Russia. All things considered, the only way to convince China to establish the plant and buy the gas was to offer low prices with strings attached. 

China would assist the government in establishing power plants, access roads to villages and megaprojects, such as bridges and ports. And the price would be reviewed in five years’ time after the first eight years. Another heart-touching requirement was that China had to help 1.2 million starving North Koreans.

After reading all her tweets, I suddenly saw Megawati differently and accepted her accounts. This does not necessarily mean that she introduced the best policies compared to other alternatives. But she has given us an insight into why she reached those decisions, basing them on several understandable and plausible considerations. Megawati may be a bad communicator, but she is not an entirely bad decision maker.

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