Indonesia a truly sick nation: Scholar

Indonesia a truly sick nation: Scholar

Rita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Indonesia will soon become "the backyard" nation among Asian
countries if it fails to combat serious corruption and a lousy
work ethic, says noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid.

Speaking at the annual meeting of Muhammadiyah here,
Nurcholish said Indonesia was already lagging behind other
countries in finance, education, science, culture but most
importantly in morality and mentality.

"We should be ashamed to be known as 'lazy and poor people.'
Indonesia will always be at the rear end and looked down on by
others.

"It is strange that most Indonesians, especially those in
power and politics, are reluctant to lead simple and modest
lives. We are a bankrupt country, why should we behave as if we
are a rich people?" said the rector of Paramadina University.

He said that during the meeting of the Consultative Group of
Indonesia (CGI), Indonesian officials, who were actually begging
for more money and increased debt, drove shiny Mercedes Benz
while those from donor countries took subway trains.

Such behavior was the legacy of the nation's feudalistic,
paternalistic and snobbish culture which grew like a plant on
fertile land and was as deeply entrenched among the authorities
and the people now as it was during the New Order regime, he
said.

"All government officials act like kings who should be adored
and served by their subordinates," he told a visibly shocked
audience of 300 top executives of Muhammadiyah, a social and
cultural organization.

Other speakers at the meeting included Jacob Oetama of the
daily newspaper Kompas and historian Taufik Abdullah. People's
Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais was scheduled to speak
but failed to appear. The meeting finishes Sunday.

"Corruption, collusion and nepotism," Nurcholish said, "has
become our culture. It is very hard to change the existing
corruption culture which has been embodied in our lives for more
than four decades."

"Indonesia is a really sick and immature nation which urgently
needs enlightenment," Nurcholish said.

He urged Muhammadiyah to provide role models and to stand at
the forefront of a religious, social and cultural movement.

Nurcholish said that in l998 Indonesia had already entered "an
enlightened period" with the emergence of reform movement, an era
he likened the 15th century European Renaissance.

"No other period in the history of the nation offered such an
opportunity for the emergence of civil liberties as the reform
era which was marked by the fall of Soeharto and his New Order
regime," he said.

The current reform era, he said, was a golden opportunity to
implement the best actions and thoughts on how to build a modern
state in contrast to the authoritarian and feudalistic regime of
the New Order era.

"But, after almost four years, people see no significant
changes. Everything remains the same, if anything, with more
messy and chaotic conditions in terms of social, economic and
politics," he said.

The people and politicians were now looking to President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, he said.

"Any president who is unable to meet people's high
expectations will risk his or her position," he said.

Nurcholish, however, admitted that the reform movement had
resulted in public euphoria and uncontrolled freedom among the
people at all levels.

This is very logical, he said, many of them have acted like
"wild horses" because they had never had the opportunity to speak
their minds and to express their feelings freely.

"Freedom is a blessing for our nation. Therefore, don't ever
try to close the door of civil liberties for the sake of
maintaining power and the nation's security," he said.