Our national blueprint<\/p>\n
President B.J. Habibie has described six development
\nmilestones in our history and attempts to build a civil society
\nbased upon the central role of the government initiating,
\nfacilitating and promoting a competitive democratic society based
\non respect for human rights, freedom of speech and healthy
\ncompetition among members of society.<\/p>\n
I applauded his exposition of his major plans and blueprint.
\nThis is truly the first clear and rational national blueprint
\nthat has ever been developed by our government leader\/president.
\nHowever, I must say that it suffers from the same problem of the
\nold blueprints built by his predecessors, namely the proposition
\nthat the central government has the ability to transform society.<\/p>\n
The \"Old Order\" under president Sukarno wanted to build an
\nutopian society based on cultural nationalism and guided
\ndemocracy with the central government controlling the whole
\ntransformation process. It fell flat on its face as the
\nconcentration of power in his hands and his government resulted
\nin revolt.<\/p>\n
The next president, with his \"New Order\", attempted to build a
\nprosperous society based upon the control of economic process by
\na central government and a selected elite. It also fell flat on
\nits face as the practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism
\nbecame out of control and people revolted.<\/p>\n
Now, the Order of Reform proposes to build a civil society
\nbased upon the belief that the central government can change the
\nnational conscience and consciousness to lead the transformation
\nof a \"lawless\" society into a civil society. How can it be done?
\nIsn't that absurd? Isn't it another way of controlling the people
\nand directing them toward a certain path, not unlike leading
\nbuffaloes by pulling on the ropes attached to their noses? What
\ntechniques are going to be used to control and direct the
\ndevelopment process of the nation (as if we can control and guide
\nthe national development)? National development, just like
\npersonal development, has its own rhythm, cycles, path, direction
\nand internal driving mechanism. Many leaders in the world have
\nattempted to guide their nations and people with the belief that
\nthey had the keys and answers to the problems. Most failed to
\nachieve their lofty goals. Hitler, Mussolini, Caesar Hirohito,
\nNapoleon, Lenin, Stalin, Genghis Khan, Roosevelt, to name a few,
\nwere among those leaders who had the false belief that they could
\nlead and control the people for their lofty goals. All of them
\nfailed.<\/p>\n
Development milestones are not dictated by a few leaders, they
\nare dictated by the people as a whole. Sukarno, Soeharto or
\nHabibie did not and do no dictate our national milestones. It is
\nthe responsibility of all of us to develop our milestones and
\nwhere the nation is going. The central government should be
\nhumble enough to return the process of national development to
\nthe people through constitutional representation and democracy.
\nThe central government does not have any central role in
\ndirecting the people. It should do what the people want it to do
\nand not the other way around.<\/p>\n
K. PRIBADI<\/p>\n
Cimahi, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/our-national-blueprint-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }