Is discipline possible?

Is discipline possible?

The national discipline campaign started more than two years
ago but nothing has significantly changed. When President
Soeharto launched the first national discipline movement in 1995,
he asked the nation to reinvigorate and renew the spirit of
nationalism by using Bahasa Indonesia properly and correctly. He
also called officials to obey working hours and respect
punctuality.

But in everyday life today, we still watch officials and
educated members of society making statements in confusing Bahasa
Indonesia with a chaotic mix of foreign words and provincial
dialects.

This demonstration of a lack of respect for our national
language has seemingly been caused by the belief that it is not
yet a modern means of communication -- or is it because many
cannot yet dissociate themselves from local tradition?

In other fields, reckless drivers still claim many lives on
the road, queuing is still regarded as a waste of time and many
people are still reluctant to use pedestrian bridges for the sake
of their own safety.

The virtue of cleanliness has also not been fully appreciated
and people still throw rubbish from running cars. The more
deplorable fact is that motorcyclists have to be told to be extra
careful when passing near construction projects because slick mud
is often left on the road by trucks entering and leaving the
site.

Discipline has also not been properly respected in the lower
levels of government administrations. Punctuality by government
officials is poor in many regency, district and subdistrict
offices, and citizens act as if they are powerless to change
their civil servants' behavior because they still believe that
they have no right to complain.

Jakarta, as seat of the central government, can in fact play a
pivotal role in this campaign, but other provincial capitals have
yet to understand their own central positions. Many provincial
capitals have been reluctant to set their houses in order because
they believe the republic's capital has not.

What they should understand is that Jakarta is an immensely
overcrowded place where the people have to fight for everything
to keep their heads above water. It is like a small house
occupied by 10 families where occupants succumb to intolerance,
impatience, and a loss of social solidarity. "If you care so much
about upholding virtuous social values, you cannot catch a city
bus," many residents have said.

Provinces can help bring about a sense of discipline in a much
easier way because they do not face a serious urbanization
problem, for example.

Whenever someone mentions Singapore as a good example for
instilling discipline, the reactions have usually been that the
island city cannot be compared to Indonesia. Whether this is true
or not, a more fitting example to follow may be found within our
own borders, such as Sumatra's city of Padang. Padang has proven
to be the cleanest city in Indonesia for many years.

With such an alarming reality of pervasive thoughtlessness,
many Indonesians have asked what is wrong with the nation? Why
have so many citizens refused to cooperate for the sake of the
country's own good? Some blame the Dutch colonial power which it
seems forgot to teach Indonesians discipline during a three-
century colonization of this country. But this notion is
groundless because Indonesians during that period were highly
disciplined.

The virtue of discipline might have started to lose its
following after the conclusion of the long war for independence,
which was followed by civil wars and local rebellions. During
this era, many positive values were turned upside down.

This might be not correct. That is why we are of the opinion
that a serious survey on the lack of national discipline is
needed to study and overcome this social ill. Otherwise the
problem will more seriously get out of hand.

The recent forest burnings which nearly brought about an
environmental apocalypse to this country and its neighbors are
perhaps the most pitiless demonstration of a lack of national
discipline.