Avoid confusion

We are living in a democratic society which means we are free to say what we think is important, and what is good, and what should be heard by the community. The idea is not to criticize, but in my opinion, to contribute thoughts and ideas so as to improve the wellbeing of our society, or to correct what we think is wrong.

Criticism is, of course, very important, because freedom, creativity and criticism are vital to our national development (President Soeharto's speech on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of University of Indonesia, Dec. 15, 1975).

The main idea of all this is to make today better than yesterday, and tomorrow better than today. But we must be careful in choosing our words and about the timing of their publication.

Something said with good intentions but at the wrong time will not achieve the expected result. The way it (what is to be said) is going to be presented should be carefully considered so as to achieve the desired outcome.

Another thing we must consider, especially during this time of financial and political turmoil, is how to avoid confusion. We should not (let ourselves) be swayed to the left or to the right until we become the victims of issues pushed by irresponsible people or groups. We must look up to our official resource only, that is the government.

An appeal should be made to all high government officials to restrain themselves. They should coordinate with other officials on what and how to explain or communicate certain matters. Contradictory announcements should be avoided as much as possible.

Let us take for example a statement made by the Chief of the National Logistics Bureau: He said on Dec. 4, 1997 that the government did not need to import rice because there were sufficient stocks -- but days later he contradicted himself by saying that the government needed to import rice.

The minister of agriculture announced that despite the drought we would have, in 1977, a surplus of 4.9 million tons of rice. Later he said that the government was going to import one million tons of rice; and the Central Bureau of Statistics then pointed out that Indonesia has accumulated a rice surplus of about 20 million tons since 1994.

While all these events were still fresh in our minds the National Police Chief was quoted in Suara Pembaruan, Dec. 29, 1997, as saying the police were investigating three ex-directors of the central bank for corruption. He said the case came under the police jurisdiction.

But the Attorney General said, as reported in The Jakarta Post of Dec. 31, 1997, that if they (the directors) were accused of corruption then the Attorney General's Office should handle the matter and the police had no right to probe the case. How very confusing?

Another police officer, Col. Made Mangku Pastika, head of the economic affairs of the National Police Detective Corps, said in The Jakarta Post that just because the men were being questioned did not necessarily mean that they were guilty of corruption.

The National Police chief had made a firm accusation, but his subordinate was still very careful about saying it was a corruption case.

Again it was very confusing. Were you not confused?

What we need now is a coordinated effort, for the sake of our people, to avoid confusion and to find ways and means together to solve our problems. Although we are all having a hard time, at least we are still one compact national unity. Pray to God Almighty and He will grant our wishes.

SOEGIH ARTO

Jakarta