A nation without a real leader

Sunday is normally a relaxing day in my life because I can wake up late and enjoy my coffee in the morning without worrying about traffic jams, which, during the week, become the order of the day.

But last Sunday was somewhat different. As I read the Post on Sept. 1, my eyes caught the headline 64 workers, children die in Nunukan. I was so sad and choked with emotion as I read the article. Although 64 people seems like a small number compared to a population of over 200 million in this country, if we knew who they were, I think we would be overcome with sorrow.

They are our national citizens who were struggling to get ahead by working illegally in Malaysia because there were not enough jobs available for them in Indonesia. They struggled for a living and also for their family and relatives back in their kampong.

Now as Malaysia has enforced new laws that punish these workers with caning, imprisonment and large fines, many of Indonesia's workers, who are mostly illegal, are trying to avoid the sanctions and return home. Unfortunately, there has been no significant help from the Indonesian government in easing the situation.

That is not the case with the Philippines. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sent her predecessor, former president Fidel Ramos to Kuala Lumpur to solve the issue of illegal immigrants there. She went to Bangao in the province of Tawi-Tawi, to meet the illegal workers that had disembarked in the city to get firsthand information about the suffering of thousands of deportees from Sabah. The climax came when she talked on the phone directly with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad with the result that Kuala Lumpur has halted the deportation of Filipino migrant workers, as reported in The Post on page 2 of Sunday, Sept. 1.

What is happening in Indonesia is different. Despite the crisis that is hitting this nation and the disaster involving some 22,000 illegal workers in Nunukan, President Megawati went ahead with her scheduled trip overseas. It seems to me that she does not feel responsible to solve the issue. Instead, she relies on her assistants to sort out the problems. I have concluded that our nation has no real leader. We have only a leader of the Cabinet.

M. SULHAN ASKANDAR, Jakarta