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.