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