Critical of

Critical of
President

Referring to the news item in The Jakarta Post (April 26,
1994) concerning the arrest of a number of university students
charged with humiliating the President, I have the following
comments.

The Indonesian state is based on the principles of the
Pancasila democracy, and every citizen has freedom of expression.
The demonstrations in which the students allegedly humiliated the
President occurred because of the absence of dialogs and openness
between the government and the students.

Perhaps the students have witnessed discrepancies, either in
the government body or in the society. In spite of that, the
government remains silent and does not take action, but instead
it tries to put a veil on the problems. This seemingly has
spurred the students to take to the streets.

I think it is fair for the students to criticize the
government for the sake of a better future. It is essential to
know that every state administrator, like the President, who is
wise and intelligent, should accept and even invite criticism
from the society.

And if an official is involved in something unscrupulous, and
if the official has a sense of shame, the official concerned
should resign from his or her post, as do officials in other
countries such as Japan, the U.S., etc.

TRIE WH

Jakarta