Indonesia mentally ill: Experts<\/p>\n
Muhammad Nafik and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesian society is mentally ill, as it has lost its sense of
\nhumanity and solidarity due to the current lawlessness and the
\nlack of leadership on the part of the political elite, according
\nto analysts.<\/p>\n
They said here on Friday the nation badly needed to examine
\nitself to strengthen its sensitivity toward those suffering and
\nthat authorities had to seriously enforce the law against
\ncriminals, particularly big-time corrupters.<\/p>\n
\"Our people are sick. They are confused and lack vision after
\ndecades of having been oppressed. There are no exemplary figures
\nwho are able to help them escape this problem,\" Franz Magnis-
\nSuseno, a professor at Jakarta's Driyarkara School of Philosophy,
\ntold The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He said the people no longer treated others as \"human beings
\nrather than animals,\" such that they crushed them just like
\ncockroaches.<\/p>\n
\"It is a dark patch in our moral culture,\" he said, referring
\nto mass killings and other incidents of violence in the past.<\/p>\n
Respected Muslim cleric and poet Mustofa Bisri had a similar
\nview, saying the nation should reexamine itself to heal its
\nserious ailments.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia has suffered a heavy stroke and needs intensive
\ncare. So far we have shown no solidarity with suffering
\npeople ... you see many ostentatiously display their wealth
\nwithout feeling uncomfortable at all,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Mustofa, Magnis and other critics lashed out at the \"public
\nexhibition\" put on by National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar
\nwith Bali bomb suspect Amrozi, who laughed, shook hands and posed
\nfor photographs during their face-to-face meeting at Bali Police
\nHeadquarters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The image of the smiling, joking and waving Amrozi, televised
\nacross Indonesia and Australia, also outraged Canberra, which
\ncalled them \"ugly images\" that would distress relatives of the
\nalmost 200 people killed in the Oct. 12 tragedy.<\/p>\n
Magnis said the jovial greeting of Amrozi by the National
\nPolice chief was similar to last year's public show of
\n\"affection\" displayed by former chief of Jakarta Police Insp.
\nGen. Sofjan Jacoeb toward high-profile murder suspect Hutomo
\n\"Tommy\" Mandala Putra, who was later jailed for 15 years.<\/p>\n
At that time, Sofjan sparked outrage from analysts and human
\nrights activists for hugging Tommy and, subsequently, appearing
\nwith him in a joint news conference following his capture after a
\nyear on the run last November.<\/p>\n
\"I think it is very alarming ..., \" Magnis said.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra said the sense of
\nhumanity and social solidarity of the people was ebbing away due
\nto the current lawlessness. \"A man suspected of stealing a
\nchicken is set ablaze. How can that be?\" he asked.<\/p>\n
Azyumardi added, \"Our society is suffering schizophrenia and
\nhypocrisy. People devoutly perform their religious rituals but at
\nthe same time they are corrupt.\"<\/p>\n
\"The problem results partly from a lack of good examples set
\nby our political elite, who mostly struggle for power.
\nMalfunction of the bureaucratic machinery and poor law
\nenforcement, which have eliminated the people's trust, are other
\nfactors,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Social psychologist Darmanto Jatman of Semarang-based
\nDiponegoro University concurred, saying the decades-long exposure
\nto violence, both fictional, as shown on television and the
\nmovies, and real, had contributed to the eroding sense of
\nhumanity.<\/p>\n
He said an indication of Indonesians losing their sense of
\nhumanity could be observed from their poor response to the
\nNunukan tragedy in East Kalimantan, where a score of workers died
\nand thousands of others were stranded after being expelled from
\nMalaysia.<\/p>\n
\"The fact, too, that many people here were reluctant to extend
\ncondolences to victims of the Bali bombings, because of fear of
\nbeing claimed to be pro-America, is another example,\" Jatman
\nsaid.<\/p>",
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