Greater transparency needed

Greater transparency needed

A new task has been added to our homework: how to combat
rumors and how to prevent them from developing. Still fresh in
our minds is the rush on Bank Central Asia that occurred when it
was rumored that Soedono Salim had died.

We will certainly be trying to find the person(s) who spread
that rumor. It is no easy job to find the people who are
spreading rumors. This is a problem which the authorities will
certainly tackle.

The more important job to look after, however, is to find out
why the public is so easily taken in by rumors, and how to
prevent this from happening. The ease with which rumors can be
spread and the fact that people are so easily taken in by them is
an indication that something is not right in our society.

A number of factors have been mentioned as being the reason
for this situation. Examples are a degree of transparency in
economic and business policies that no longer satisfies the
demands of the current market system, the emergence of
alternative information media, and our links to the global
infrastructure.

Whether we are ready or not, willing or unwilling, our society
will be affected by that global market demand for transparency.
And as the degree of transparency that prevails fails to satisfy
what is required, rumors begin to circulate. In such a condition,
rumors easily flourish and people are easily affected.

-- Kompas, Jakarta