If you can't act smartly, can't you at least speak smartly?

JAKARTA (JP): It is 6 p.m. and it is show time. It is just like any another day. The time marks the most entertaining segment of TV shows in Indonesia, where you can see distinguished people act like children to entertain people. And what incredibly talented actors they are. They can act so convincing without any scenarios, making plots that are so annoying and just like soap operas, complete with lies, accusations, scoldings, etc.

On that day, Sept. 23, I watched the head of our central bank comment about the postponement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. He said that it was not good for the IMF to keep postponing the loan because Indonesians needed it so bad to continue their lives. If the IMF didn't give any money, the rupiah would get weak again and the damage would be very bad to Indonesia.

I think it is a universal ethic that debtors will say or do nice things to impress would-be creditors. I still remember my mother reminding me when I was a little kid to adopt a nice attitude if I wanted to borrow something from my siblings and that I had to give it back undamaged, even though they belonged to my own sister or brother, not to mention if they were other people.

Now let's look at the position of the IMF -- or other creditor countries -- and Indonesia. Imagine you had a neighbor that had many kids to be fed and they were much poorer than you. Actually, you thought your neighbor was not that poor. They only had problems with managing their property and abilities, so when they kept on asking for loans from you, somehow you felt annoyed.

But you couldn't just refuse them because: a) you didn't want other people accusing you as being uncaring to let your neighbor suffer, b) you wanted to impress people so they would praise you -- and who knows, maybe someone would give you something or many things because he/she thought you were good -- and c) you had interests in your neighbor, such as you wanted them to help look after your property, or you wanted their children to obey you so you could command them to do things you want.

But after several times of lending money, you noticed that the loans brought no benefit to your neighbor because their attitude did not change at all. The father would gamble the money away, the mother could do nothing about the father because she would be beaten up. Their house still looked as ugly as ever. And worse yet, the children, besides looking like beggars, also behaved like criminals. Yet you expected them to improve so that you wouldn't have to give them loans anymore and the family would improve their own lives with the help of their children.

People around you also noticed this. They wondered why you were always so nice to your neighbors, as you wondered yourself.

So one day, when your neighbor asked for another loan, you decided to refuse diplomatically, and deny your interests temporarily. Your neighbor, instead of being nice, got angry, very very angry. The father said, "Well, if you don't give us the money, we still have property and that will be enough for us until next year. But remember, if you don't lend us money, we will be famished. We will die."

And what would you say? "Why should I care?"

Poor Indonesians. I mean, most of the Indonesians, including myself, because we have to be beaten by one disappointment after another by some selfish people that, pathetically, have the power that we entrusted them with. I can't put in order those moments of disappointment because they are now mixed up: Soeharto, Andi Ghalib, East Timor, etc. And the latest scandal that made the authorized one speak to our "good" creditor: the Bank Bali scandal, another comedy or soap opera. The characteristics are blurred but it's just like any other scandal, we don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I think discussions over how to repair our condition, whether it is through seminars or mass media, are uncountable. There are so many solutions and choices we can take, but they will be useless if the moral aspect is denied.

Okay. It is hard to fix moral aspects or cultures in a short time. I have read in a book by our distinguished writer that technological leaps can take only several years, while cultural leaps take several decades. Look at the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans and the Americans. We can learn from their experience.

Okay. We cannot cleanse our behavior that fast. Corruption will not really vanish, and neither will collusion, nepotism, violence, etc. But what country is a hundred percent clean from them? (Hah! What an excuse!)

But at least we have to really get determined to rearrange our broken country. Our time is getting shorter, so we have to really be careful to lengthen the age of our sick country.

Many have said that Indonesians are smart. So if you can't act clean, act smartly. Don't be like babies who cannot take the responsibility of what they do. Or if you still cannot act smartly, please speak smartly. Don't be like babies who can only pronounce unclear words that are confusing.

So for some period, maybe our big question to our government and other authorized people is: could you please at least speak smartly?

-- Chadijah Mastura