Discipline begins at the top, Sudomo says
Discipline begins at the top, Sudomo says
JAKARTA (JP): The national campaign to strengthen discipline will be launched by President Soeharto today and, officials and experts say, it should be applied to everyone, especially those in leadership positions.
The Chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sudomo, said that given the paternalistic character of Indonesian society, the most effective way to instill discipline in people is to start with the people at the top.
If leaders are not disciplined, they will set a bad example for their subordinates, Sudomo was quoted by Antara news agency as saying. "This will make it impossible to establish proper discipline."
The campaign, which is being inaugurated in commemoration of National Awakening Day today, will focus on queuing, hygiene and punctuality.
On a separate occasion, Golkar chairman Harmoko stressed that the campaign should be equally applied to civil servants.
"Golkar fully supports the campaign for national discipline because it is also targeted at the state apparatus," he told Antara yesterday.
"This means that every government employee should act in accordance with existing regulations. This will also strengthen the credibility of the government," said Harmoko, who is also the Minister of Information.
He added that a civil servant is an employee of the state and therefore of the people. They should serve the people and not ask to be served.
J. Riberu, a member of the House of Representatives for the ruling Golkar faction, argued that discipline has to do with proper enforcement of the law, something which is still lacking in this country. "The level of discipline in a nation depends to a large extent on how the people respect their laws."
He noted that violations and abuses of the law are often committed by people at the top, usually government officials.
"An official who is asking for special treatment, in the sense that he be exempted from the laws by which others must abide, is encouraging others to disregard the law," he said.
R. Soeprapto, chairman of BP-7, the government agency which runs the ideological Pancasila course, said people in Indonesia tend to spare important people, say a minister, from certain inconveniences, like having to queue.
Normal, law-abiding citizens duly step aside and the minister thus takes his position for granted. "Everyone sees this as normal," he told Antara.
"These kinds of things would not happen in a democratic country. Everyone, including officials, must queue up."
Such an attitude of special treatment for privileged people is widespread in everyday life. Unfortunately, he said, unless this is changed, it will undermine the discipline campaign.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman, who heads the campaign arranged by 14 ministers, said on Wednesday that discipline should be observed by everyone without any exception.
He did not say how the discipline campaign will be enforced and monitored but stressed it will not take on any military shadings.
Soesilo said impatient motorists will be among the targets, singling out the toll road users that frequently resort to the shoulder to overtake other cars.
Queuing will also be encouraged in public places, he said.
The cleanliness campaign will promote the use of litter boxes while the punctuality campaign is chiefly to encourage people to turn up for work on time.
"The discipline campaign does not mean that the Indonesian people are rotten," Soesilo said.
"But there is a need to strengthen the people's discipline," he said, adding that people in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia are much more disciplined. (emb)