Mumtaz 'Fall Not Far' From Amien: Answering Why Politicians Hobby Making Promises

Amien Rais (Source: PAN.or.id)

JAKARTA - The chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) DPP Mumtaz Rais promised to swim from Kapuk Beach, Jakarta to Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) if PAN Reformasi was formed. Clear promises need not be heard. It's just that, it is interesting to explore why politicians often make random promises. This random behavior is a reminder, perhaps that none of the promises of politicians deserve to be heard.

"If indeed the PAN Hallucinations (PAN Reformasi) are actually formed and filled by only a quarter of our council members, who number around 1500, then I as the Chairman of the POK DPP, this strong guard of PAN fortress will swim from Kapuk Beach to Labuan Bajo. As a form of give away. A gift from me, "said Mumtaz, we quoted on Tuesday, September 1.

Mumtaz called PAN Hallucinations to insinuate his father's mission to establish a new party. The mission in his eyes was impossible. Not a one way ticket. Mumtaz promised roundtrips. The second promise he made was for his belief that the Minister of Law and Human Rights (Menkum HAM) Yasonna Laoly would not issue a Decree (SK) on the establishment of PAN Reformasi.

"I will give away again, swim from Labuan Bajo to Kapuk. Back and forth. We'll wait until December," Mumtaz.

Mumtaz Rais (Instagram/@mumtaz.rais

Mumtaz 'fell not far' from Amien

The fruit does not fall far from the tree. Mumtaz's promise reminds us of the arbitrary promises of Amien Rais, Mumtaz's own father. In 2014, Amien, who at that time had already joined Prabowo Subianto's camp, made a vow to walk back and forth from Yogyakarta to Jakarta.

In the news on Kompas.com, it was explained that the vow was revealed by Amien when a number of media crews questioned his suddenly supporting Prabowo. In fact, Amien was previously known to be tough on Prabowo. Before supporting Prabowo, Amien had called Prabowo the mastermind behind the 1998 case and had pushed for Prabowo to be brought to the military court for his involvement in the violent incident.

Amien denied and instead challenged the media crew to prove his accusations against Prabowo. Amien even promised to walk from Yogyakarta to Jakarta if there was news that could prove it.

Amien Rais (Source: PAN.or.id)

"I challenge, if you can find back the pieces of print media that I talk about like that, or radio recordings, or television recordings that say that."

"I will walk from Jakarta to Yogya back and forth. If necessary, while cranking. I'm not like that. God willing, I have never accused Prabowo of that. No," added Amien.

The proof of Amien's accusation against Prabowo is proven. Two newspaper clippings were found. First, the news in the daily Republika dated June 24, 1998, which contained a headline entitled: Amien Rais: Prabowo must be crowned. The second evidence is a piece of news from the Kompas newspaper, August 4, 1998.

In the news, Kompas quoted Amien's statement that Prabowo was responsible for the 1998 kidnapping case. Amien, who was then the General Chair of PP Muhammadiyah, hoped Prabowo would reveal everything he knew to the DKP and not hide anything about the kidnapping of activists.

Any promise from a politician

Many other politicians have often shown the same thing. There is no need to talk about those election winners, whether heads of government at the national, regional or legislative candidates. Anas Urbaningrum, a former politician from the Democratic Party, once stated that he was ready to be hanged at the National Monument (Monas) if he was proven to have received money in the bribery case of the Hambalang project. Anas was proven to be corrupt. But he certainly wasn't hanged.

President Jokowi took the oath of office for the second term at the DPR / MPR Building (Instagram / @ jokowi)

Former Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam), Wiranto also once boasted. He challenged the former Kivlan Zen Kostrad staff to take the pocong oath. This was done by Wiranto to deny Zen's accusation of his involvement at that time as ABRI Commander in the 1998 violence.

We contacted political science researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) Aisah Putri Budiarti to explain the habits of these politicians. According to Puput - his familiar greeting, Mumtaz, Amien, Anas, or Wiranto and many other politicians have taken this condition into account.

"They use that ridiculous promise because they actually realize that the public understands that what is promised is difficult or even impossible to fulfill. So, if whatever they say is wrong or not proven, the promise does not need to be fulfilled," Putri told VOI , Tuesday, September 1.

This habit is formed into a culture among politicians. Among them, promises are just promises. Just sayings. There is no sacred element in it. This is bad for the political climate. In Mumtaz's case, what he made of promises was nothing more than his way of affirming his dislike for Amien Rais and his mission to form a new political party.

"In the end this promise was not made sincere and lost its sacred meaning ... They want to convey the message that they really don't like one thing," said Puput.

However, there you have it. There is not much we can do to change the political climate, which is already full of nonsense. If there is anything that can be done for ourselves, it is perhaps to turn a deaf ear because there is not a single politician's promise to hear.

"This actually reinforces the stereotyping that 'politician promises', 'politician nonsense', and so on."