Telephone bill or Bulungan Gate?<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"Hallo, Mom. How are you?\"<\/p>\n
\"Fine, see you later!\"<\/p>\n
\"Mom, hold it! It's me. I want to know how everybody is. I
\nwant to talk to Dad too.\"<\/p>\n
\"Everybody is fine, we love you. Assalaamu Alaikum.\" With
\nthat, Mrs. Bandi put the receiver.<\/p>\n
Some people have been reacting strangely to the recent
\nescalation of telephone tariffs. The fear of paying a hefty
\namount of money for a short call has made them do funny things.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Bambang, for instance, spent hours traveling to several
\nplaces in Jakarta. She wanted to measure the distance between her
\nhome and the places which she calls.<\/p>\n
\"The tariff is determined by the distance,\" she reasoned. \"So
\nI must figure out how much I have to pay before opening my mouth
\nto talk on the phone.\"<\/p>\n
\"Mom, you're wasting your time,\" said her son, Cokro. \"You
\nmust hire a helicopter if you want to know the actual distance
\nbecause it is measured in a straight line.\"<\/p>\n
Whatever they do, the announcement of price increases has
\ngenerated yet more commotion, especially in relevance to the
\neconomic situation. The government has picked the wrong condition
\nand the wrong rate of increase.<\/p>\n
\"The government can't wait to rob people who have been
\nsuffering from the crisis,\" said Mr. Bambang bitterly.<\/p>\n
\"Maybe it's for the small people,\" I said, borrowing
\ngovernment officials' favorite statement. \"With the increase,
\nTelkom can provide better services, which will result in more
\nforeign investors bringing in their dollars.<\/p>\n
\"Hence the restoration of the economy and, in the long run,
\nthere will be more jobs available. Only then will prosperity be
\nours.\"<\/p>\n
\"In the long run! How long?\"<\/p>\n
\"Well, 10 to 15 years.\"<\/p>\n
\"My god! We're having economic problems now! The so-called
\nsmall people need help right now! In 10 years we will all be
\nbroke! And those guys in the government who tango with the tariff
\nwill no longer be there to be held responsible.\"<\/p>\n
Mrs. Bambang suddenly looked me square in the eyes. \"You are
\nbeginning to sound like a government official. I suspect you have
\njoined the party,\" she said without clarifying which party.<\/p>\n
\"Hey, I'm only giving you possibilities,\" I defended myself.<\/p>\n
\"Your possibilities suck,\" she said. \"The truth is, the price
\nincrease is done for the benefit of Telkom business partners who
\nare going to sell their stocks. By increasing the price of
\ntelecommunications services, investors will buy the stocks of the
\ncompanies at high price.\"<\/p>\n
\"Talk about collusion!\"<\/p>\n
\"And we, for whom those political campaigners promised to
\nfight for, are sacrificed.\"<\/p>\n
\"Well, small people are destined to be sacrificed. You have to
\naccept that fact. Look at what the farmers have to endure. In
\ntime of rice scarcity, they were encouraged to plant rice.<\/p>\n
\"Then the government lifted the subsidy for fertilizers,
\npromising to raise the price of rice and buy all the rice
\nproduced by the farmers should the market price get lower than
\nthe government-set price.<\/p>\n
\"Now, as the price of rice plummets, the village cooperatives
\nrefuse to buy it. Again, the farmers, have to suffer loses.\"<\/p>\n
\"What have the House members done about this?\"<\/p>\n
\"I don't know. Maybe they are busy packing in anticipation of
\ntheir end of services and making plans on how they are going to
\nspend Rp 200 million in severance pay.\"<\/p>\n
\"As for telephone tariffs, as far as I understand, the
\ndecision carries their approval.\"<\/p>\n
\"Isn't it possible that the government authorities have forged
\na scheme to make them say yes?\" asked Mrs. Bambang. \"You know, in
\nour beloved country, with a certain kind of service, you can buy
\napproval.\"<\/p>\n
\"Mama, please!\" warned her husband in dismay. \"Don't start
\nthat again. Accusing and assuming will get you to nowhere. You
\nhave to know business and politics before making such comments.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, you'll end up in the wrong corner of the
\ncourtroom. The best thing to do now is to stop using the phone.\"<\/p>\n
\"And stop talking to my friends?\" Mrs. Bambang wailed. \"No
\nway. I'd rather stop eating. End of conversation.\"<\/p>\n
Later, arriving home from the office, I got a long-distant
\ncall from Chaniago, a businessman who has just opened a branch in
\nPadang.<\/p>\n
\"Is it safe to talk now?\" I asked, expecting his reaction on
\nthe phone tapping case.<\/p>\n
\"Are we talking about Bulungan Gate?\"<\/p>\n
Bulungan Gate is what some people call the phone tapping of a
\nconversation believed to be between the President and the
\nattorney general (whose office is located in Bulungan) which was
\ndisseminated by a weekly magazine.<\/p>\n
The interesting part of the case is not the tapping, which is
\na crime, but the reaction of the people on the subject of the
\nconversation. Most people believe the president has cheated them
\nby pretending to carry out a decree by the last Special Meeting
\nof the People Consultative Assembly. The conversation, if it
\nactually occurred between those two people, proves that the
\ngovernment is not serious in implementing the decree, and the
\npeople of this country have been fooled.<\/p>\n
\"Okay, now with the Bulungan Gate, do you think the voice is
\nreal?\"<\/p>\n
\"Am I Sherlock Homes?\"<\/p>\n
\"Use your usual and famous professional justification.\"<\/p>\n
\"I wouldn't dare think of justifying. Even the President and
\nthe attorney general give contrary explanations. I would rather
\nconcentrate on anticipating the bombshell of my current phone
\nbill.\"<\/p>\n
\"Oops! Talking about the phone bill, I must hang up right now.
\nSorry, ciao!\"<\/p>\n
\"Hold it, Chan. I have an important message for you... Hallo!
\nHallo, Chan?\"<\/p>\n
-- Carl Chairul<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/telephone-bill-or-bulungan-gate-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }