Greater vision needed

The decision taken by officials in charge of political affairs and security has been favorably greeted: permits are no longer needed for activities on campuses where outside speakers are invited.

Bans, restrictions and problems concerning permits have occurred with such great frequency and regularity that they have drawn reactions. Those reactions have not been limited to technicalities or particular cases, but have taken on a character of comprehensive questioning, criticism and deliberation.

What we would like to offer as a thought for consideration is that the source of the problem of bans and permits lies in the relevant rules and regulations. Let us thus review those regulations and bring them in line with the growth of our people's aspirations and with the changes and needs of the times.

Aside from revamping those regulations, a no less important step would be to pay attention to the question of the leadership of the officials concerned. Officials, both at the center and in the provinces, should not allow themselves to fall into the trap of narrow, limited and individual politics. Instead, they should let themselves be led by the politics of state and statesmanship. Officials, as leaders, should have the courage to take the responsibility.

Without a growth in vision and in leadership among officials, the revised and readjusted, or even abolished, regulations will still be used as pretexts to demand permits, to ban and to restrict.

-- Kompas, Jakarta