Indonesians partly to blame<\/p>\n
Is it not time that Indonesians themselves had the courage to
\naccept some of the blame for their current dilemma? It is very
\neasy to point elsewhere. So far in this paper they have accused
\nthe expatriates, the Americans, the IMF, the Jews, the Chinese
\nand now it's the turn of ex-president Soeharto. Whatever his
\nfaults, the man clearly worked very hard for this country and was
\nthe driving force behind its very fast development, yet he lives
\nin fairly modest circumstances for a person of his status.
\nUndoubtedly, the fact that people deferred to the family name has
\nallowed his children to build business empires, but that at least
\ngave employment to tens of thousands of people. And if the debts
\nand liabilities they acquired to achieve the same equal their
\nassets then their net worth is nothing. In fairness, names like
\nKennedy, Thatcher and Gandhi have never proved a disadvantage
\neither.<\/p>\n
So where has all the money gone? I would suspect that the
\nstudents need not look too far from home, because virtually every
\nsingle level of officialdom would seem to suffer from corruption.
\nMaybe, as Mr. Slack says, some at the bottom are just topping up
\ntheir salaries, but farther up the scale the greed is total. Your
\npaper has advised just in the past few days that Rp 600 billion,
\npaid in fiscal tax at Cengkareng airport, has been stolen and, of
\nthe extra land bought for that airport, a quarter was sold off by
\ncorrupt officials for another Rp 44 billion. How many hungry
\npeople would that have fed?<\/p>\n
This is just the tip of the iceberg, with Customs officials
\nalleged to be receiving between 10 and 20 times their monthly
\nsalaries in corruption. Just suppose that the monies due to the
\nState are ten times the bribe how many millions of dollars are
\nlost to Indonesia every single month? Ferries sink and buses
\ncrash, because safety checks have been compromised. And so it
\ngoes on and on.<\/p>\n
Few have faith in the investigative services and even your
\njudges admit that much of the judiciary is corrupt, so who can
\ncut out the cancer? It's difficult, but not impossible.<\/p>\n
In corruption cases, under most legal systems, the burden of
\nproof is reversed, so it is up to the accused to prove the monies
\nreceived in dubious circumstances were not related to corrupt
\npurposes. On Sept. 21 The Indonesian Observer reported that
\nBekasi Justices were investigating the World Bank Project Manager
\nand the Head of the Labor Office (both having Indonesian names)
\nabout their inability to account for some 30 percent of the Rp 4
\nbillion funding given to provide the recently unemployed with
\nfood for work. So sometimes, the facts are not really as
\ndifficult to find as some correspondents would have us believe.<\/p>\n
I would ask those students if they believe that tourists will
\nbe encouraged to come to Jakarta, if they have to run the
\ngauntlet of people blocking the road and threatening them on the
\nway to the airport? Do they believe that financiers and investors
\nwill be encouraged to strengthen the rupiah or invest here, when
\nthey see mobs kicking down the gates of their own parliament?<\/p>\n
When you demand the removal of something, it is always wise to
\nknow what you will replace it with. The best service the students
\ncan give this country is to improve the quality of their degrees
\nand to leave the state affairs to wiser counsel.<\/p>\n
JOHN DENYS<\/p>\n
Kettering, UK<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesians-partly-to-blame-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }