Ideal president needed

Leaders of a nation have the responsibility to protect and provide for the people. A good president must be an exemplary citizen who upholds the law for the benefit of all, not bending it for personal gain.

When the president of a nation is also its uncontested dictator, the temptations toward self-serving policies are great. In the case of former president Soeharto, clearly they were too great. When a ruler falls to the temptations of greed, wealth and power he has failed his people. He has missed his opportunity to be written in history as a great leader. In a nation where religion plays such a major role, one has to wonder what lies in store for Mr. Soeharto after he passes to the other side. Surely it will not be easy for him when he faces his final judgment day.

The recent and very timely article in Time magazine, Soeharto, Inc." indicates that Mr. Soeharto was a very clever leader who appropriated billions of dollars from the Indonesian government and thus the people for himself and his family. With government decrees backing him up, his family was permitted to rake billions of dollars out of the economy for their personal gain. Does the fact that Bapak (Father) had members of parliament rubber stamp his decrees make him any less of a criminal? According to Indonesian law, Mr. Soeharto may be clean. But what is the validity of legal decrees made by the very man who is benefiting from them? What is the validity of rubber stamps when coercion was the name of the game and anyone not cooperating lost their job or was removed permanently? To oppose Bapak during his reign was to die, literally or officially. The many cases of nepotism and favoritism are well documented. A close circle of approximately 30 Chinese businessmen surrounding Mr. Soeharto, plus his entire family made off with tens of billions of dollars for their businesses and personal gain. Is this a crime? Certainly for the millions of poor Indonesians it is.

Of course, things improved during the years of Mr. Soeharto's iron-handed rule. Indonesia, a country rich in natural resources with a large, inexpensive workforce entering into the modern world of commerce was bound to change. But no country's economy could withstand the level of corrupt and unscrupulous behavior that existed in Indonesia for the past 20 years.

The national infrastructure providing the people with job opportunities, good education systems, good health services, clean water supplies and sewage disposal are greatly lacking in most villages and many cities all over Indonesia. That women are still dying in childbirth due to lack of good health care is a crime. It is a crime for children to suffer from malnutrition and lack of good education. Men and women have been forced out of their jobs facing ruin and starvation as the economy crumbles. From a humanitarian perspective, the policies of the Functional Group (Golkar) government under Mr. Soeharto's control were criminal, causing distress, disease and ruin for millions of Indonesian citizens.

Indonesia is at a crossroads, a critical passage in its history. At this juncture, it is vitally important to have a president whose focus and policies are directed toward helping the people by improving their life quality in substantial ways. Indonesia deserves to have a great president who will uphold the law, applying it even to himself or herself as it is to others. He or she must object to unfairness wherever it is found and eliminate corruption through improved economic conditions and diligence as basic principles of good leadership.

EMERALD STARR

Ubud, Bali