Drunken master style

Drunken master style

From Tempo

Many people are so disinterested in watching and listening to
the match between our government officials -- both in the
legislative and in the executive -- that they cannot get angry
anymore because they are already so fed up. In the Soeharto
regime, people were still able to predict which course Indonesia
would take just by reading some wayang stories: from the
beginning of certain battles up to the emergence of a just queen
and the likes.

Now the people at large are perplexed: it is just like
watching a kung fu film featuring a hero with his drunken-master
style which is very hard to anticipate.

As is widely known, this drunken-master style is highly
effective, as the master takes advantage of both the enemy's weak
and strong points for his own purpose.

This style has been adopted in several recent cases: something
that was considered unlawful yesterday can become lawful today.
And the most sensational recent incident of making the police
chief inactive and the replacement of the coordinating minister
for political, social and security affairs. Bizarre, indeed! Only
a couple of hours earlier, the minister was "promoted" by
declaring that he would be responsible for maintaining order and
stability, then the next minute, he was fired.

I do hope that this kung fu film will end soon, but certainly
without a happy ending, or in other words in the defeat of the
drunken-master.

BOY ISWANDI

Bangkok, Thailand