Are we committed to getting better?

Are we committed to getting better?

By Nirwan Idrus

JAKARTA (JP): Many would agree that one gets over an illness
much quicker if one really and truly wants to get better.
Anecdotal evidence also supports this. Just ask your doctor.

How is it, for example, that there are people who have
suffered massive strokes yet within three weeks are able to be
discharged from hospital?

Willpower is a major and, perhaps, determinant factor in
healing. Experts can probably describe the internal body
processes which release certain enzymes that assist in the
psychological recuperation following medical mishaps such as
strokes. A strong will releases some internal "super-power" which
can work wonders.

In business we also observe that those who continue to survive
in the face of adversity are the ones who have the internal
resolve to survive.

With respect to economic recovery, for example, many have
asked why it is that the turn-around is still elusive in
Indonesia, unlike in Thailand, South Korea and other countries
affected by the monetary crisis of 1997 - 1998?

Explanations abound on why this is so. Politics has been fair
game -- from irrational comments by our President, for example,
to the personal vendetta between the President and the Governor
of the Central Bank and the cancerous practices of corruption,
collusion and nepotism in government agencies and elsewhere.

What is required in order to help Indonesia turn around?

One of the fundamental prerequisites is human resources, and
this brings us to education. The question is how can education
meet the country's needs effectively and efficiently.

It is no secret that Indonesia has still a long way to go in
the education field, not only in meeting the needs of the
country, but also in satisfying the basic needs of the majority
of the population.

Seventy percent of the work force here only have elementary
school qualifications. This is at a time when neighboring
Malaysia, for example, is wiring itself with all sorts of new and
advanced technologies; when elementary school pupils in other
countries are using the internet to do their homework; when
access to higher education elsewhere is pervasive and when the
rest of the world has entered the "knowledge society." Where are
we in Indonesia?

The latest estimate (one is given different figures by
different official sources) shows the number of students in
higher education here is about three million.

This is about 1.3 percent of the estimated population. In
comparison, Malaysia has about 2.4 percent of its population in
higher education (and a significant number studying outside
Malaysia) and New Zealand about 4.3 percent.

Thus, even if we assume that the standards of higher education
in Indonesia are the same as in Malaysia and New Zealand, we are
still a long way behind, just in percentage terms. What if the
standards in Indonesia are less than those elsewhere?

Many, indeed, consider that the standards here are much lower
than in many developing nations, let alone developed nations.

Couple this problem with the myriad of suffocating government
regulations, the lack of dedication among university staff, of
appropriate managers in higher education institutes, of
managerial, teaching and research experience among academic staff
in higher education institutes, and the lack of yardsticks for
measuring performance at all levels.

There is also a lack of quality control and quality assurance
in higher education programs. Add to all of the above the problem
of students' high school qualifications upon entry, lack of
educational infrastructure, and Indonesia's pervasive corruption.
What we get is a far from pretty picture of Indonesian education
as the country enters the New Economy.

Are these symptoms of the problem or the problem itself? The
real crux of the problem is none other than actual willingness to
change and to bring about change. Again excuses may be made to
rationalize the slow speed of change, the hiccups in bringing
about change, the protracted delays in bringing cases to a
conclusion and so on.

In short, we are not serious about "getting better". No amount
of doctoring, surgery and hospitalization will change our
condition if we don't have the commitment to get better, to
improve ourselves and to break the pernicious cycle of bad
attitudes and bad practices.

How are we to do this? This very question is in fact a
manifestation of the old attitudes and practices, of "templating"
-- copying a process without thinking how to get to the end
result, without a care for the quality of the "solution".

Different questions should be asked: Am I committed to getting
better? How can I stop corruption in my immediate working
environment? Imagine the change that will occur, even if only one
per cent of Indonesia's population engage in this endeavor.
However, our leaders must first give the lead by setting a good
example.

The writer is executive director of the IPMI Graduate School
of Business in Jakarta.