Horrified at

Horrified at Indonesia's face

From Kompas

We are horrified to see the face of Indonesia today. On one side you have the silent majority -- they earn a decent living, exercise tolerance, speak politely and uphold morality. On the other side, you have the concentrated minority with a penchant for mass mobilization (small in number but armed), protest rallies to condemn certain people, character assassination and ultra-sectarianism.

Indonesia is about 10 times bigger than Malaysia. Malaysia has overcome its crisis so we should use it as a model to get out of our own crisis.

Then observe the silent majority. They are not familiar with such terms as democracy, reform, the New Order or human rights. They can only earn a living to support their families and send their children to school. Sometimes they hope that the prices of daily commodities will not further increase and at other times they wish they could return to the Soeharto era, which was relatively better than the present situation. Let's now seek Volume Two of the Soeharto era. We need a leader like Soeharto but must do away with the corruption, collusion, nepotism and militarism of his days. A mite of "white" authoritarianism is necessary for Indonesia today. Or, perhaps, we must "import" Mahathir Mohammad to this country. Dr. Sjahrir is right: "It's an economic emergency."

L. INAWATI

Temanggung, Central Java