Iwan Gunawan, Jakarta – The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seemed to be irritated by independence aspirations reflected in the display of separatist flag in Ambon and Papua.
Such aspirations have been visible in Aceh, with former rebels proposing a local party which chooses their old flag as the party's symbol.
But Vice President Jusuf Kalla was quick to deny the administration had ever approved the request.
In response to the expression, a political party that claims to be nationalistic said those incidents would not have occurred had they still been in power.
So should the nation be concerned about the flag-displaying trend? From the administration's point of view, the issue should raise public concern regarding it's ability to solve serious national problems.
If the government fails to be decisive in its handling of the impacts of the Sidoarjo mudflow or in pursuing major corruption cases, why should we expect to see punishment for those raising a flag which was not a crime in the first place? Even if the administration is successful in building a legal case against those involved in the display of separatist group-linked symbols, critics would zero-in on the fact that we can steal state assets and walk free – but to show political aspiration in public is an offense.
From the perspective of the nation, this trend should force us to ask if there we have a healthy state of central-regional relations in this country.
Indonesia's people, its politicians and bureaucrats ignore the fact that provinces are not just administrative sub-units in a one-way top-down command system.
In fact, many of the regions in the country were sovereign territories before and during the colonial period. When independence was declared at the end of World War II in 1945, the regions did not think twice about committing themselves to the new Republic of Indonesia.
What is often underestimated is while the allegiance may be circumstantial given the window of opportunity for independence at that time, it was not without reciprocal expectations.
In other words, the regions agreed to be part of the Republic with an expectation they would be an inherent part of any important decision making of the country. For more than three decades under the New Order regime, however, regional participations in critical decision making were nearly absent.
Decisions were made by one man along with "elected" representatives (from the regions as well) pretending to deliberate – only to finally endorse any decision of the president.
Today's decisions are made through painful procedures of democracy, but genuine participation of the regions in critical decision making remains absent.
State budgets are negotiated between the executive and the legislative, both of which are controlled by centralistic political elites.
The Regional Representative Council (DPD) is the more genuine representatives of the people and was born in 2004 – but the centralist elites were unwilling to give it a role in critical decision making.
Local elites were awarded a political space to contest their own elections, but only if they were loyal to the central party board. And "loyalty" today is always associated with a "financial contribution" to the central board.
If all avenues for genuine regional and local aspirations are blocked by centralistic and elitist politics, the display of a separatist flag by the regionalists is actually a healthy way out.
No one has really been hurt, and they certainly did not take the financial pie the administration and the parties are fighting over. Political parties and party candidates raise their flags almost everyday, often using public money and without question occupying public spaces.
So why are the nationalists so worried about the "separatist" flags? Some observers say the incidents would not threaten national integrity.
They simply reflect the ability of those behind the move to win the hearts and minds of the population in regions that are tired of the dominance of the elites in Jakarta.
There seem to be several options the nations can consider in balancing the interests of the regionalists and the nationalists.
First, local elections for mayors, regents and governors could be made more open to local and regional candidates. The 7 percent threshold for parties to name candidates should be removed and independent candidates should instead be allowed to contest.
The risk of potential deadlocks in local parliamentary processes if this option is pursued is a myth. In reality, there is no genuine opposition or coalition in this country anyway. Pursuing this option would at least fully open the regional political space within the corridor of Indonesian democracy, even to the flag raisers.
Secondly, the DPD can be genuinely involved in critical decision making. It needs a full legislative mandate, even if in the end it has a smaller number of votes compared with the House of Representatives.
This option would allow the regions to transparently see how their aspirations are taken up in the national political decision making process.
The debates over whether Indonesia subscribes to unicameral, bicameral or tricameral parliamentary system is rather irrelevant at this stage. Indonesia is good at creating hybrid systems anyway.
Thirdly, regional symbols have been a part of this nation since its beginning – a flag is only part of it. Had Abdurrahman Wahid been in office, he would have encouraged other regions to have their own flags – not just Aceh, Maluku and Papua.
The presence of regional symbols will only better reflect the diversity of social identities of this great country. This option would at least make "illegal" flag-waving become legal and would allow our security and intelligence to focus their energies on criminals and terrorists.
Unfortunately, the harsh reality is any of these changes depend on the willingness of the 550 House members and the administration to push for genuine reform.
The reform movement put up a modern infrastructure of democracy with better elections and institutions. But if the nationalist politicians in the parties and the administration opt to keep on with horse trading and money politics, then perhaps raising regional flags is actually a healthy way of showing regional aspirations.
[The writer teaches regional development studies at the University of Indonesia and Bogor Institute of Agriculture.]