Reflecting after the 17th<\/p>\n
On Aug. 17, 1995, at 00:01 hours, fifty years of independence
\nwill have come to pass. When the celebrations are over, however,
\nlittle will have changed.<\/p>\n
Children will still plunder and pander in our city streets.
\nSome will be thrown into jail because we lack laws covering
\njuvenile delinquency.<\/p>\n
The rivers and drains that dissect our cities will still be
\nfilled with garbage. When the heavy rains come, some garbage and
\nwaste will flow to sea. Of course we will continue to pay garbage
\ndisposal fees every month without fail.<\/p>\n
We will still fear to drink water from the tap in our own
\nhomes since we still do not receive chlorinated and fluorinated
\nwater. Do you realize that the price of bottled mineral water
\nrepresents almost twenty percent of the average minimum daily
\nwage earned by factory workers?<\/p>\n
Farmers and villagers will continue to leave the land,
\nflocking to cities because of insufficient nationalized funds and
\nprograms to help them work the land.<\/p>\n
School children will continue to ride cargo bays of trucks
\nbecause of the lack of proper school buses. They might continue
\nto fight each other on streets and in public buses, in venting
\ntheir frustrations in a sense of hopelessness. Perhaps because
\nthey have so little in a world around them that has so much more.<\/p>\n
English should be actively re-introduced into all public
\nschools, beginning at kindergarten level so that each child, rich
\nor poor, will have the opportunity to develop into an 'English
\nliterate' world.<\/p>\n
Child prostitution exists in many cities. There are teenage
\nschoolgirls in the care of pimps and they operate from and in the
\nmany 'Pondok Motels' scattered around Jakarta and other large
\ncities. Firm measures and rehabilitation programs should be drawn
\nup to stop this.<\/p>\n
Torture as means of coercion is common practice in police
\nlock-ups and military-administrated correctional institutions.
\nBeaten, bruised and bloody, suspects attend court and come face
\nto face with judges. How many innocents have already passed
\nthrough this system?<\/p>\n
Why is crime today so violent in nature? Maybe there are
\ncriminals who believe in the necessity of violent action in any
\ncrime. In some very sad and twisted manner, perhaps they realize
\nthat if and or when they are caught by the police they will be
\nsubjected to torture. There are no high or low differences in
\nterms of torture. For the thinking would-be criminal, any form of
\ntorture would simply constitute a tremendous amount of pain.
\nTherefore the criminal will choose to do any crime with the same
\nvengeance, hatred and physical violence that he would expect to
\nreceive at the hands of his captors and society in general.<\/p>\n
The word captors is inclusive of a group or groups of people
\nwho get lucky and catch a 'thief' and then decide within a space
\nof seconds, that they represent rightful justice. This group is
\nnow called a 'mob' who, without second thought, proceed to beat
\nthe suspect to a bloody death. From the time that the crime was
\ncommitted, up to the moment of his death, the suspect is legally
\ninnocent. Simply because he had not been found guilty in a court
\nof law. No official arrests had yet been made. No member of the
\npublic or representative of law of the government and state had
\nyet filed charges against the suspect.<\/p>\n
There are many wrongs within the framework of our system and
\nsociety. Malpractice, corruption, economic monopoly, misplaced
\npublic funds are rampant and the poor have no time to stop and
\nstare. Together our people and government must reach out to one
\nanother, constructively acknowledge and remove the obstacles
\nrampant in our systems and way of thought. We must reinvent our
\nsociety to gather values that we have lost and rekindle the
\nessence of Pancasila -- the elements for liberty and equality for
\nall Indonesians. We must disperse the 'mob' within us, then
\nlisten to our hearts.<\/p>\n
FRANS C<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/reflecting-after-the-17th-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }