The nation could perish, Megawati warns<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia as a nation could perish if people keep undermining
\nnational unity and cohesion, President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nsaid on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Virtually every group in society today is fighting for its own
\ninterests at the expense of the national interests. This has led
\nto violent and often bloody conflicts between groups, regions,
\nvillages, ethnic groups and even religious communities, Megawati
\nsaid in her speech to commemorate Youth Pledge Day.<\/p>\n
\"If we allow this to continue, you can be sure that we as a
\nnation will soon perish,\" she said in the ceremony attended by
\nthousands of youths in Cibubur camping ground, East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The gathering was held to mark the anniversary of the historic
\npledge to build one independent nation by young people from
\nvarious parts of the archipelago on Oct. 28, 1928, when Indonesia
\nwas still a Dutch colony.<\/p>\n
The Youth Pledge -- One Nation, One Language, One Country:
\nIndonesia -- was a major turning point in the country's
\nindependence struggle that culminated in the declaration of
\nindependence 17 years later.<\/p>\n
One of the youths who took part at the historic meeting was
\nSukarno, who proclaimed independence on Aug. 1945 and became
\nIndonesia's first president. Sukarno is Megawati's father.<\/p>\n
Megawati warned of the possibility of Indonesia becoming the
\nBalkans of the East, of reopening the possibility of the people
\nbeing exploited once again by foreign forces as in the past.<\/p>\n
\"We have been taught by our own history that our unity would
\nbe undermined if we have leaders of questionable honesty and
\nintegrity,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Present at the ceremony were Vice President Hamzah Haz as well
\nas a number of Cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n
The Megawati administration, which marks its first 100 days on
\nWednesday, has been widely criticized for its lack of sense of
\ncrisis and its failure to even send signals that the economy was
\nimproving after four years of economic crisis.<\/p>\n
In her speech, Megawati acknowledged that Indonesia was
\neconomically far better off in 1997, the year before the economic
\ncrisis hit and also the last year of the Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
\"Today, we rarely encounter optimism in our society. All
\ncomments are pessimistic, including about the state of affairs of
\nour nation.<\/p>\n
\"But we must not surrender to this situation. We have to
\nhonestly admit that we have regressed before renewing our resolve
\nto work together to get out of the present crisis.<\/p>\n
She cited the break down of law and order as one of the chief
\nexcesses of the reformation movement that started in 1998.<\/p>\n
\"That feeling of security -- something which everyone in this
\ncountry naturally craves for -- seems to have disappeared,\" she
\nsaid, adding that many foreign companies were now preparing to
\nflee Indonesia because of this feeling of insecurity.<\/p>\n
Megawati blamed the decades of rampant corruption, collusion
\nand nepotism (KKN) for the present state of affairs, reaching the
\npoint where \"some of us have come to accept it as part of our
\nculture.\"<\/p>\n
\"We have to break this cycle of KKN.<\/p>\n
\"KKN is nothing but theft and those who are indulge in it,
\nwhatever position or rank they hold, are thieves.<\/p>\n
\"We have to stop this looting of state assets. We have to
\nbring the corruptors before the court of law to account for their
\ncrime,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Although disillusioned at the excesses of the reforms, she
\ncited various advances that Indonesia had made in the last three
\nyears, including building a more democratic country and respect
\nfor people's basic human rights.<\/p>\n
The reformation could succeed if everyone started by reforming
\ntheir thinking, their morals and mentality, \"because that is
\nwhere everything starts,\" she said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-nation-could-perish-megawati-warns-1447893297",
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