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Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesia119leadership of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, is determinedto stop those mistakes. Our President has declared her six mainprograms for the Government to be carried out, namely: (1) tomaintain national integrity; (2) to continue the process of reformand democratization; (3) to strengthen the economy of people;(4) to uphold the supremacy of law and to combat corruption,collusion and nepotism; (5) to increase the trust of internationalcommunity to Indonesia; and (6) to prepare the implementationof general election in 2004 which is peaceful, orderly, secretlyand directly.In the framework of these programs, it is clear that theGovernment is in the position to support the effort to empoweradat communities in Indonesia. We realize that adatcommunities constitute the very important and basiccomponents of our nation. The history of independence ofIndonesia was not separated from the struggle and willingnessof adat communities to fuse and join into the Indonesian nationstate. Therefore, the Government is obliged to seriously workto improve the quality of life of adat communities.The Government of Indonesia realizes that the reduction ofpoverty in adat communities is not an easy task. We understandthe empowerment in its wide spectrum and meaning to includeempowerment in economic spheres, social, and political life.Through such empowerment, we do believe that adatcommunities will be able to live equally at the same level withother populations and will be released from any form ofdiscrimination.Empowerment of adat communities is a collectiveresponsibility of all components of the nation-state, includingadat communities themselves. The government realizes that it