Who is responsible?<\/p>\n
In reference to Education and Culture Minister Wardiman
\nDjojonegoro's statement on academic unemployment (Sept. 27), it
\nis high time that The Jakarta Post published an article or a
\nseries of articles that deal with our major problems and go to
\nthe core of each issue.<\/p>\n
Unemployed graduates from 1995 number about 400,000 -- 13.5
\npercent of the 3.23 million alumni in that year. Add to that
\ntotal those former students without jobs since 1970 and you have
\nabout 10 million. Not to forget those from the high schools, so
\nthe total jumps to about 18 million.<\/p>\n
When Sudomo was the minister of manpower 10 years ago, he
\nmentioned an unemployment pool of 10 million Indonesians plus
\nanother 5 million \"disguised\" unemployed people.<\/p>\n
At the end of last year we had 50,000 expatriates employed
\nhere. According to estimates this number will exceed 100,000 by
\nthe year 2000.<\/p>\n
As I have frequently indicated, every expatriate costs the
\neconomy, on average, US$5,000 per month (Indians and Filipinos
\nare on lower salaries than Caucasians) and 50 percent of this
\ngoes overseas. The total annual cost is US$ 3.5 billion a year
\nand it will double by the year 2000.<\/p>\n
That amount of money would easily employ 200,000 Indonesians,
\nprovided they have the qualifications for the jobs.<\/p>\n
This situation begs me to ask the following questions:<\/p>\n
1. Is there a serious problem with our education system? Is it
\ntrue that we cannot produce the necessary quality of graduates
\nand produce substandard material which foreign companies do not
\nwant to touch.<\/p>\n
2. Has there ever been an effort from the ministry to get in
\ntouch with us from the industry and trade sectors, to assess our
\nneeds and establish realistic standards of competency?<\/p>\n
3. Is this to be called a bencana alam (natural disaster)? We
\nhave tears in our eyes from the smoke. We call the slash-and-
\nburning of some 600,000 hectares by companies a national disaster
\nbut it was not nature's fault. The culprits were the timber
\nconcession holders and those who won concessions to convert
\nforests into plantations.<\/p>\n
4. What is the definition of a natural disaster, in this case?
\nIs it not plain arson?<\/p>\n
The question in both cases is: who is accountable, who should
\nbear the direct consequences of mismanagement?<\/p>\n
We should start defining and solving the problems and the role
\nof this newspaper could be essential in educating the public in
\nanalysis. Show them how to analyze, show them alternative
\nsolutions, costs, etc.?<\/p>\n
Of course this cannot be done by your array of foreign
\nwriters. Sometimes I think I have a London daily in my hands as
\nthere are so few Indonesian writers contributing to your 16
\npages.<\/p>\n
Maybe Prof. Fuad Hassan or Prof. Slamet Iman Santoso, with
\ntheir young staff seconding them, can produce a concise review?<\/p>\n
Y. SANTO<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/who-is-responsible-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }