Elite must avoid social turmoil

Elite must avoid social turmoil

From Suara Karya

The political situation in our country is heating up and this in a way is attributable to the ceaseless inter-elite conflicts in the institutions of the executive and legislative. Some of the elite seem to be very fond of looking for the President's mistakes by eloquently making statements to the print and electronic media. In fact, they used to support the President intensively when blocking the nomination of Megawati (now Vice President) as Indonesia's first woman president.

It seems as if they thought that with their statements in the mass media they were clean, correct and holy. If we are a little more observant we would find that it is their statements that have made the exchange value of the rupiah drop against the U.S. dollar to a level below Rp 10,000. Of course, it is all right to criticize someone, especially because we are still learning to practice democracy. Make sure, however, that you make constructive, not destructive, criticism.

The elite in the executive and legislative institutions must cooperate in its respective role to build our country, which is now in the grip of a multi-dimensional crisis. It must encourage a sound democratic life and law enforcement against collusion, corruption and nepotism to ensure that the condition of the country can be improved. Anybody involved in corruption, irrespective of its magnitude, or violating the law, regardless of its seriousness, must be punished by the law. If possible, as happens in China, capital punishment must be meted out to those involved in graft.

It is time that our elite should conduct self-criticism and jointly improve its performance. Only in this way can it help the country get out of this protracted crisis.

ERWIN BUSTAMI

Jakarta