Is the system to blame?

Is the system to blame?

On the evening of May 10 in the "Around Indonesia News"
program on RCTI, Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and
Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that "The problem
of this nation is not in individual but maybe in the system..."

I think we have to think more critically because it is not
correct to assume that the system can only be referred to as the
rules of the game. Generally speaking, a social system has three
main components. First, the rules of the game such as the
constitution, law, and ethics. Second, the institutions which
have authority to implement the rule of the game. Third, the
actors (especially leaders) who have responsibility for the
implementation of authority/power.

In view of this, we can observe clearly that the problem is
not in the system itself because the government is the system and
embraces all three components. In my view the problem that we
have to address wisely is the individual/leaders as the actors
who have responsibility for running the system.

In this context, the behavior of President Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid who always looks down on the House of Representatives
and his often controversial statements can pose a problem. So the
problem is really derived from the individual leader. To solve
this problem we may consider the sharing of power between the
President and the Vice President as an appropriate alternative.

ALEXANDER B. KOROH

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara