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.