Haughtiness breeds contempt<\/p>\n
Nothing but a tsunami could have shocked me out my daily
\nreveries. And I am positive that the worst ever tidal wave in the
\nera of reform has turned millions into statues from disbelief.<\/p>\n
What else could I mean but the incomprehensible announcement
\nmade by the state secretary and Functional Group (Golkar)
\nchairman that former president Soeharto deserves a Rp 26.5
\nbillion house for his services to the people and state during his
\n32-year presidency.<\/p>\n
Had the Austrian composer Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus still been
\nalive he might, as a reaction to the news, start composing
\nanother comic opera like Der Figaro. To Frans Lehar, this might
\nbe an opportunity to launch another Die Lustige Witwe (Merry
\nWidow) waltz operetta.<\/p>\n
If my senses are still intact, it was only a month ago a well-
\nknown politician blamed the prevailing crises, the people's
\nsuffering and all sorts of shortages and the foreign debt burden,
\nsquarely on the New Order government under Soeharto and on the
\n(old) Golkar leadership. And yet, the present reform government
\nbelieves Pak Harto is in urgent need of financial assistance
\nwhile the majority of the people barely have enough to purchase
\ntheir daily needs.<\/p>\n
Think of the millions of jobless people. Perhaps, The Jakarta
\nPost editorial of July 23 reflects the conscience of the majority
\nof people and fortunately also of some leading members of the
\nHouse of Representatives. The benevolent genie of reform has been
\nput back in the bottle and the evil spirit of the former
\ngovernment is roaming around freely, as many have dreaded. At
\nleast the political cards have now been thrown on the table for
\neverybody to see who loves who and where the true and pseudo
\nreformists are to be found.<\/p>\n
How can one not get sarcastic about it; we beg foreign
\ninstitutes for loans to feed the people or pay our debts, sell
\nour companies, economize state rupiah spending, yet we throw away
\nmoney unnecessarily.<\/p>\n
Now the true colors and true intentions of this reformist
\ngovernment have been revealed in an unfortunate, if not very
\nhaughty manner. To allege that the reform movement has been
\nderailed seems not far from the truth.<\/p>\n
My criticism is far from politically motivated, although it
\nmay contain political undertones. From the point of morality in
\nannouncing the refund (for Soeharto's house) under the present
\ngeneral hardship and economic malaise is simply inhuman.<\/p>\n
As I wrote in a previous letter, even geniuses, supreme
\nthinkers calling themselves intellectuals, make mistakes,
\nmisjudgements or blunders. It seems that intellectuals can also
\nlose their sense of crisis. And even worse, this untimely
\ndisclosure shows their ineptness as statesmen and as a loss of
\ntheir sense of priorities. Statesmanship, wisdom and honesty --
\nnot mere intellectualism -- and compassion are needed more now to
\ngovern well.<\/p>\n
GANDHI SUKARDI<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/haughtiness-breeds-contempt-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }