Aid of food staples

Aid of food staples

From Media Indonesia

The people are experiencing ever greater difficulty in coping with the price increases of daily necessities. The basic problem is the price of staple foods. Lower, affordable prices are eagerly awaited, especially by the less fortunate in our community.

The holding of cheap markets at various locations offering Rp 5,000 packages of sugar, noodles and cooking oil is of great help to the people. Also warung tegal (food kiosks) which distribute subsidized meals give some relief to the unemployed. These actions are sincerely hailed in the present difficult situation.

On the other hand, we need to reflect if cheap markets, cheap food packages and the like are a solution to overcoming the problem.

These noble measures are indeed very much needed now but they are not the right solution because they do not touch on the root of the problem: the social gap.

Those measures are incidental in nature. And that is exactly what has been happening in this country. Solutions to problems are sought only when the problems have surfaced, while the roots of the problems, invisible but very tangible, are overlooked. There is even an impression that the big and serious problems remain untouched.

The basic problem of this nation is the enforcement of the law and the recognition of moral values. I am convinced that many of our thinkers and the society in general desire a state in which the government is clean and the law upheld in order to progress. This will create a society that is ready for globalization and its challenges.

The current monetary crisis should make us aware of the need for introspection and to conduct reforms in all fields. A country can only progress if it upholds the law.

BLICHER SM T BOLON

Jakarta