A show of wanting sincerity

Extraordinary. This is the expression that best describes both the findings of the TGPF (Joint Fact Finding Team on the May riots) and the reaction from high-ranking cabinet officials to the team's report. The TGPF findings, arrived at after three months of labor and made public on Tuesday, are indeed extraordinary.

We greatly appreciate the efforts made and the integrity of the team's members. All the shortcomings of the report notwithstanding, the team's courage in stating facts that are painful not only for the government but also for the nation, deserves to be commended.

No less interesting, however, is the response given by the authorities concerned, who in their reactions have shown themselves lacking in good judgment concerning this matter. As in chorus, they generally regretted the TGPF's apparent digression from its originally assigned role of fact-finding to analyze events as well. But how can facts have any meaning without contextual analysis?

This rejection (of the TGPF report) was already evident at the time when the findings were announced, as none of the cabinet ministers who signed the decree that established the team in attendance.

We find this attitude most disturbing as it appears to show the government's insincerity about solving the problems that affect the interests of the people at large. If the authorities cannot properly appreciate the work of a team which the government itself has formed, how could they ever be expected to acknowledge the work of non-governmental organizations which are active in many other fields?

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta