A pleasant surprise

What does the government exist for? There are many answers to this question. Some say the government exists for itself. This is a power-oriented government which insists on maintaining power for its own interest. Such a government has no concern about the interests of the public.

In a democratic system, however, the government is created from the people, by the people and for the people.

Such a government cares about the people because they hold the highest mandate and they decide whether or not the government will continue in power.

Thus, defending the people's interests is something about which there can be no compromise. That is the beauty of democracy.

From this point of view, we welcome the government's decision to delay the increase in electricity charges, which was supposed to have taken effect this month.

The delay is based on good reasons, the most important of which is to ease the burden on the people. This shows that the government is paying attention to the people -- a very pleasant, albeit rare, occurrence.

There is much evidence to show that the government cares little about the people. The government's decision to delay the hike in electricity charges thus came as a pleasant surprise. This is really good news for the people.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta