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