Para Pemimpin Dunia Kenang Thatcher
World Leaders Pay Tribute to Thatcher
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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MIKHAIL Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl dan Bill Clinton adalah diantara sahabat dan mantan musuh yang akan bergabung untuk mengikuti upara penghormatan Margaret Thatcher yang semasa hidupanya dikenal tanpa takut dan kukuh pendirian sehingga membuatnya pemimpin yang ikonik.
"Wanita Besi" ini adalah figur kontroversial baik di Inggris maupun luar Inggris, namun para pemimpin dunia Senin ini sepakat mengakui tempatnya dalam sejarah abad ke-20, bahkan Presiden Barack Obama mengenangnya sebagai "sahabat sejati Amerika".
Thatcher meninggal dunia karena diserang stroke Senin kemarin di London pada usia 87.
Mantan kanselir Jerman Helmut Kohl yang dianggap sebagai bapak reunifikasi Jerman pada 1990, mengaku sangat menghargai Margaret Thatcher atas cintanya pada perdamaian, keterbukaannya yang tak tertandingi, kejujurannya dan keterusterangannya.
Paus Fransiskus mengapresiasi atas nilai-nilai Kristen yang mendasari komitmen Thatcher dalam melayani masyarakat dan dalam memajukan kebebasan di antara keluarga bangsa-bangsa.
Karangan bunga membanjiri luar rumahnya di London begitu kabar mangkatnya dia diumumkan, namun kelompok sayap kiri malah menggelar pesta.
Di Glasgow dan di sudut selatan London di Brixton, musuh-musuh mendiang mantan PM itu menggelar pesta kecil merayakan kematiannya. Di antara yang paling keras menentangnya adalah para buruh tambang Inggris.
Pemerintah Thatcher menghadapi dengan keras demonstrasi buruh tambang pada 1985 dan memaksa mereka menghentikan unjuk rasa paling keras dalam sejarah industrial Inggris.
"Saya bisa minum dengan enak sekarang," kata David Hopper dari serikat pekerja tambang nasional.
Respons nyinyir juga muncul dari Argentina karena Thatcher dikenang sebagai pemimpin Inggris yang melancarkan perang di Kepulauan Falklands (Malvinas) yang disengketakan Argentina-Inggris pada 1982.
"Berkat Tuhan hari ini wanita mengerikan itu mati," kata veteran Perang Malvinas, Domenico Gruscomagno, 71. "Dia pribadi yang menjijikkan. Demi memenangi Pemilu di Inggris Raya, dia melancarkan perang," tambah pria tua ini seperti dilansir Yahoo.
Ketika kelompok sayap kanan memuji Thatcher yang berhasil membawa Inggris keluar dari lingkaran krisis, kelompok kiri malah menuduhnya telah menghancurkan industri tradisional dan reformasinya berdampak pada krisis sosial.
Gerry Adams, pemimpin partai republik Sinn Fein, menyebut Thatcher telah memainkan peran yang memalukan di Irlandia Utara.
Tapi secara umum reaksi umum atas kematian Thatcher cenderung positif.
Di Brussels, Kepala Komisi Eropa Jose Manuel Barroso memuji kontribusi Thatcher bagi pertumbuhan Uni Eropa, kendati Thatcher meragukan Uni Eropa.
Sementara Perdana Menteri Australia Julia Gillard memujanya karena telah menjadi pioner perempuan dalam politik yang disebutnya sebagai pencapaian yang bersejarah.
MIKHAIL Gorbachev, Helmut Kohl and Bill Clinton were among the former friends and foes who joined in tributes to Margaret Thatcher, praising the fearlessness and fierce determination of an "iconic" leader.
The "Iron Lady" was a polarising figure in Britain and beyond, but foreign leaders Monday were unanimous in acknowledging her place in 20th-century history, with President Barack Obama mourning a "true friend of America".
Thatcher died of a stroke on Monday in London aged 87.
Former German chancellor Kohl, considered the father of Germany´s 1990 reunification, said he "greatly valued Margaret Thatcher for her love of freedom, her incomparable openness, honesty and straightforwardness".
Pope Francis said he recalled "with appreciation the Christian values which underpinned her commitment to public service and to the promotion of freedom among the family of nations."
Flowers from admirers began piling up outside her London home soon after her death was announced, but left-wingers quickly began planning jubilant parties, proving that the late premier was as divisive in death as she was in life.
In Glasgow and in the edgy south London neighbourhood of Brixton, critics of the late premier held small street parties to celebrate her death, with some holding placards saying "Rejoice -- Thatcher is dead".
Britain´s coalminers were among the fiercest of her foes -- and for one senior mining official marking his birthday on Monday, her death was the icing on his cake.
"I´m having a drink to it right now," said David Hopper of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Thatcher´s government crushed a year-long miners´ strike in 1985 and forced them to accept sweeping pit closures, in one of the bitterest episodes in British industrial history.
Bitter reactions were also heard in Argentina where Thatcher is remembered as the British leader who launched the 1982 war over the disputed Falkland islands.
"God bless the day that that terrible woman has died," said veteran Domenico Gruscomagno, 71. "She was an odious person. In order to win elections in Great Britain, she waged war."
While right-wingers have credited Thatcher with having hauled Britain out of the economic doldrums, the left accuses her of dismantling traditional industry and claim her reforms helped unpick the fabric of society.
Gerry Adams, leader of the Sinn Fein republican party, said she had played a "shameful role" in the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
But on Monday most reaction to her death -- at least from leaders abroad -- was positive.
In Brussels, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso paid tribute to Thatcher´s "contributions" to the growth of the European Union, despite her deep scepticism over increasing ties with Europe.
Australia´s Prime Minister Julia Gillard hailed her for helping to shatter the glass ceiling for women in politics.
