Instilling discipline

Instilling discipline

In the words of Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs
and Security Soesilo Soedarman, our national sense of discipline
is well below that of Singapore and Malaysia. This lack of
discipline can be seen in traffic flow, working habits and
patterns of cleanliness.

All this naturally has its reasons. We believe a study is in
order to find out those reasons and the possible solutions. Thus
far, none of the high institutions of state have taken any
concrete steps or formulated any policies designed to instill
discipline.

Actually some sporadic surveys have been made regarding the
perceived decline in our national sense of discipline. And some
measures have been formulated, among other things, the
introduction of the principle of built-in control in government
agencies. And speeches on the need to maintain discipline have
been made by officials from the level of the President on down,
but apparently without much effect.

Minister Soesilo Soedarman's concerns are justified. We
believe they deserve the proper response from all of us in order
that the sense of discipline, among the public, as well as
government officials, can be established and brought on a par
with that of our neighboring countries.

-- Sinar Pagi, Jakarta