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