Talk little, work much<\/p>\n
From Media Indonesia<\/p>\n
When I was in elementary school, one of my teachers taught the
\nclass to \"talk little, work much\". This implied that it was
\nbetter to work a lot and yield something useful, than to talk a
\nlot without having any tangible results. Nowadays the youth of
\nJakarta like to say, \"Don't only talk, you must come with proof
\nof what you say.\"<\/p>\n
Bung Karno, Indonesia's first president, said \"talk much, work
\nmuch\". He contended that when we talked a lot we would produce
\nmore ideas. A lot of talk made somebody creative and more work
\nwould result, according to him. I think Bung Karno wanted to say
\nthat people must have innovative ideas, and together with the
\npeople he turned ideas into real work useful to the community,
\ncountry and nation.<\/p>\n
Second president Soeharto's idea seemed to be, \"talk little,
\nwork much\". The people were not allowed to talk much, but had to
\nwork in obedience to the government. The New Order government,
\nbacked up by the Army and the police, was apparently worried that
\nif people talked a lot it would threaten \"political stability and
\nnational security\". Thus, control of the press, the NGOs,
\npolitical parties, etc. was strict. This resulted in
\nextraordinary economic growth, making Indonesia a newly
\nindustrialized country. But the situation turned sour with the
\ncoming of the monetary crisis, a result of the lack of social
\nresilience and the people's weak economic foundation.<\/p>\n
Now, in President Abdurrahman Wahid's era, I think the
\nsituation has changed into \"work little, talk a lot\". Just think
\nof the statements made by the speaker of the People's
\nConsultative Assembly and the speaker of the House of
\nRepresentatives. We often do not know whether they are speaking
\nin their official or private capacity. They should be able to
\nrestrain themselves to avoid having their statements
\nmisinterpreted.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman's Cabinet members talk a great deal compared to
\nthe concrete results they achieve, at least that is the opinion
\nof some people. Anyway, their work and performance are not
\noptimal; there is more talk than work. The Cabinet needs a
\nreshuffle.<\/p>\n
In the case of intergroup conflicts in Maluku, Abdurrahman
\nonly said that he knew some people from Jakarta were behind the
\nconflicts. If this is known, why are there no steps being taken
\nto stop it?<\/p>\n
AMIR KARAMOY<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/talk-little-work-much-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }