God Bless America

I know that there are not too many of you reading this blog on regular basis. Still, apologize for the hiatus, I don’t plan to make a habit out of it. When I started this not so long ago, I was planning like updating this blog every other day. Too ambitious maybe, but I don’t want you to accuse me of being, how to say this, warm warm chicken shit (anget anget tai ayam in Bahasa).

Anyway, interesting development in the US in the past 2 days don’t you think? But not at all very surprising, in fact we have expected it from sometimes back. Close, but no, I’m not talking about Britney Spears filing a divorce. It’s about the Democrats dominating the House of Representatives again after 12 years.

It seems funny to expect what happened in the US will affect our life here. And what a reverse. I remember back in 2001, in a pre 9/11 world when George W. just won the presidency. There was a hot debate in my old college mate mailing list. Most of us were happy that a Republican candidate was elected. We thought that the paternalistic style of the Democrat Clinton will be over.

If you recall, all military ties were severed by the Clinton administration, due to what happened in East Timor. In fact, they linked everything with their democracy standard. No aid for corrupt governments, no assistance for countries with poor human-rights records, no business deal with countries ruled by military junta. And preaching what is good for us.

We thought that Republican will be more pragmatic, less idealist, friendly with big business. The result: good for the world, good for us. How naïve we were…

Of course 9/11 changes everything. But I suspect that even without it George W. administration is still too pragmatic, has low respect on moral value, and too friendly with big business. It doesn’t care that Pakistan is ruled by military junta, Kazakhtan by pseudo-democratic government, and China has poor human-rights records. Iraq? Halliburton of course. As long as it serves their purpose the Bush administration would turn a blind eye. And guess what, still preaching what is good for us.

I’m no political expert, to be precise realpolitik has always been low in my list. But I guess I have put my priority correctly: you can’t expect too much from politicians, be them in Indonesia or anywhere else. Even now, when I quietly cheer Democrat’s victory, I don’t think much will change with the world. The US government will continue pursue its own interest; the rest of the world is nothing but its supporting roles, replaceable once they don’t serve its interest.

Not everything from the new world is bad news though. Hugo Chaves, Evo Moralez, Lula da Silva and now please welcome: Ariel Ortega and his Sandinista. Looks like being left is back in trend.

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