Criticizing Singapore

Criticizing Singapore

From Media Indonesia

There seems to be a tendency in Indonesia that if there is a
failure in overcoming a domestic problem, attention will be
diverted overseas. Hence the idea to establish a military pact or
to set up the West Pacific Forum, whose membership would include
Indonesia, Australia, East Timor, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea
and Singapore.

The benefit of this new forum is a moot point. However, a new
forum in a regional/international sphere, in which there are so
many forums, is comparable to setting up an association with
membership comprising business tycoons, people suffering from
starvation and those with leprosy. It would be wonderful if such
an association could come into being, however it is also
understandable why, in this case, the business tycoons would
probably refuse to join.

Singapore's refusal to join the West Pacific Forum has made
President Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, furious. Then chairman
of Commission I of the House of Representatives, Yusril Ihza
Mahendra, has also said that Singapore has often practiced
unfairness with its neighboring countries. Singapore, for
example, is reluctant to sign an extradition treaty and does not
publish its foreign trade balance.

While worrying that the criticism Gus Dur has unleashed upon
Singapore will affect bilateral relations, Yusril himself has
heaped his own criticism upon Singapore.

It seems that Bung Karno's (first president Soekarno's) idea
of being self-supporting is now obsolete and that, more naively,
we may think and act in the name of national interests while
other countries may not.

Perhaps we need to have a little more understanding of the
real key to Singapore's success. Experts believe that its success
is attributable to its strong and reliable service industry. So,
it means that even a devil, let alone a human being, will be
provided service as long as this is in the interest of the
country. Must we criticize Singapore then?

Let's stop criticizing other people and start thinking and
doing things rationally. Better still, our actions and our
thoughts must reflect our quality of being wisely religious. This
is especially true in the case of a leader. I wonder why it seems
very difficult to assume such an attitude?

SUMITRO

Jakarta