Is our investment promoter aspiring to be a boxer?
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post
When they had the chance to meet up with him during his visit to Copenhagen this week, his former mentors at the National Bank of Denmark may well have asked Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Theo Toemion about his new career, as a boxer.
According to his official curriculum vitae, Theo, who previously also worked at Bank Indonesia, attended a course at the National Bank of Denmark bank several years ago.
Theo, whose full name is Theodorus Fransisco Toemion, need not worry too much. He will not become jobless when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono eventually kicks him out of his current position. Apart from being able to return to his previous career as foreign currency dealer, he could also be a great boxer.
Mind you, so far he's only been able to knock out a 14-year- old basketball referee, a woman, and several other less than pugnacious contenders. But as a beginner and for a 49-year-old man, it was a great start. And don't forget: All his opponents have been white-skinned, who he says are all racists anyway.
He could perhaps contact a flamboyant boxing promoter, like Don King, to act as his new promoter.
Theo was a currency trader and legislator for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) before being appointed BKPM chairman by then president Megawati Soekarnoputri in June 2001. He often complains about foreign investors leaving Indonesia -- who cite bad things about the country as their pretext for abandoning us -- in spite his tireless self-sacrifice in trying to create a much more conducive investment climate over the past four years.
It was mere chance, however, that the world came to know of his new-found talent. According to the Thursday edition of Koran Tempo and The International Herald Tribune, Theo went on a wild rampage at the Jakarta International School (JIS) on April 17 during a basketball match for elementary students.
He decided to use his fists, after a 14-year-old Australian boy ejected his 7-year-old son from the game after he's committed a series of fouls. Match officials supported the referee's decision. Theo then ran amok, assaulting the boy, a match organizer, and also some other parents at the match -- who all happened to be foreigners -- under the pretext of defending his youngest son, who he claimed was a victim of "discrimination".
"My sense of nationalism and Indonesian pride overwhelmed me and I had to defend myself against all the foreigners who were accosting me," Theo said in his letter to the JIS headmaster and members of the community, in a pathetic attempt to explain the incident.
It is worth asking whether he would have acted so thugishly if he was still not in a position of political power. During the fracas, according to witnesses, he threatened to have people sacked and deported, boasting of his impunity.
As a state official, his sole mission is -- or at least, was -- to persuade foreigners to come here and invest their capital, and thus contribute to the economic development of our nation. But what he did on April 17 had precisely the opposite effect. He scared many investors away with his crude display of arrogance.
Did he commit an act of arrogance? Undoubtedly. Can it be tolerated? Absolutely not.
The President must punish him. And, if there are grounds, he should face legal action.
Unfortunately for Indonesia, Pak Theo does not hold a monopoly over such arrogant behavior.
Many state officials -- politicians, bureaucrats, military and police personnel -- continue to exhibit 'high-and-mighty' attitudes, particularly in front of a restrained and ignorant public, and daily commit gross abuses of privilege out of sheer, unadulterated arrogance.
Every day we see instances of this. Of how traffic is brought to a complete halt causing massive jams, just to make way for some self-important petty commander or minister who think themselves too superior to be bothered with heavy traffic.
Such arrogance has already cost human lives, such as the accident that occurred in November when police suddenly forced cars to stop in the middle of the Jagorawi toll road because a presidential motorcade was about to pass.
At the airport, we frequently see jumped-up, middle-ranking officials taking "fast track" exits and demanding special treatment.
Many politicians, state officials, even their adjutants wear special pins on their chests while they are in public places, just to make sure people know exactly who they are. They then abuse their power to enrich themselves because they know that nothing will happen to them, even if they pillage state coffers.
The President should immediately sack Theo from his position. He's a disgrace. Such violent, arrogant behavior should never be tolerated, no matter how "patriotic" the reason may be, much less a children's basketball match!. And he must properly apologize, not only to his victims, but to the Indonesian nation.
We can but lament, will other high officials and those in positions of privilege learn from this incident?