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