A question of legality<\/p>\n
There has been a lot of fuss lately about business activities
\nconducted by the offspring of government officials. There have
\nbeen accusations that the way in which those young people conduct
\ntheir activities is not always very ethical. And some have
\ndefended the right of every human being, including the children
\nof officials, to do business.<\/p>\n
One may ask why the topic, which started rolling during a
\nrecent meeting between members of the House of Representatives
\nand Attorney General Singgih, has become such a heated issue at
\nthis particular moment.<\/p>\n
The reason, clearly, has its roots in the sensitivity on the
\npart of the majority of our people, a phenomenon which is
\nnothing strange in a country where the social gap remains
\nunbridged.<\/p>\n
Our people, especially small-scale businessmen, who have
\ndifficulties keeping their nose above the water's surface, have
\nlong been at a loss as to why children of certain high-ranking
\nofficials have suddenly become so affluent and live so opulently
\nthat foreign magazines have included them among Asia's richest.<\/p>\n
There are, of course, similarities between those small-scale
\nbusiness people and the children of the officials in question.
\nThey both started from scratch. However, within a relatively
\nshort time the latter have ended up as the nation's wealthiest
\npeople, while the former are still laboring under great
\ndifficulties.<\/p>\n
Stories are told of children of officials winning huge
\nprojects with no open tender ever having been announced. Also,
\nsome state-owned businesses have been privatized and handed over
\nto certain young people without an open tender. In those cases,
\nbusiness has not been conducted in a transparent manner.<\/p>\n
It is held to be a fact that many of our nouveau riches have
\nlittle to be proud of. They have no experience, being still so
\nyoung, and certainly no MBA degree from some prestigious
\nuniversity in the West. The only plus they have is the position
\nof their parents in government. In these cases people can hardly
\nbe blamed for being sensitive or even jealous of their more
\nprivileged fellow citizens.<\/p>\n
Many of us may remember how in the 1950s officials -- even
\nthose who had acquired their wealth in a legal manner -- tended
\nto live modestly. There were almost no children of officials
\ninvolved in business. Many a cabinet minister did not feel it
\nbelow his or her dignity to ride in a becak (pedicab) when he or
\nshe had to go out. Prime minister Mohammad Natsir owned no
\nprivate car, either before or after he took the post at the helm
\nof the government.<\/p>\n
Now it seems that values have changed. Petty officials
\nno longer hesitate to flaunt their overabundant wealth by riding
\nin luxury cars (outside office hours, of course) and living in
\nposh residential areas. Many of our citizens have adapted
\nthemselves to those new values. Many, however, have not and still
\nask how some people could have become so rich in so short a time.<\/p>\n
Those who are now defending the newly rich young people tend
\nto ask for proof of the latter's wrongdoings in business,
\nalthough they know very well that it is all but impossible to
\ncome up with any.<\/p>\n
The position of the House of Representatives is still weak.
\nLegislators have neither the courage nor the budget to exert
\ntheir constitutional rights, such as the right to inquire. What
\nthey can do at present is only to pose questions to law
\nenforcement officials. So the problem has become a topic of
\nheated public debate, which, unfortunately, will probably simply
\nfade with time.<\/p>\n
As in corruption cases, the problem here would not be
\ndifficult to solve if the authorities were truly sincere in
\napplying the law: Any person suspected should prove himself clean
\nand show that he has amassed his wealth from legal sources in a
\nlawful manner.<\/p>\n
However, the old question remains: Who will be brave enough to
\nhang the bell around the cat's neck? Until such a courageous
\nperson can be found, the show is most likely to go on as it is
\nnow.<\/p>",
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