It's about 'quick fixes'
I find Carl Chairul's By The Way piece last Sunday (July 12) not only amusing but right on the nose. It's truly a pity that some readers are unable to see that he does not intend to ridicule the idea of making sacrifices in the form of fasting to help less-fortunate fellow countrymen. What Carl is actually highlighting -- if I may amplify it for him -- is our leaders' strong tendency to invent and enforce quick fixes that do not really address the source of the problems that we have as a nation.
What else could you call fasting in order to cut down on rice consumption? It's nothing but a quick fix. What is the real problem? Well, just take a look at Lombok, where the most productive rice fields on this island were converted into a lush golf course some years ago. And Lombok is just one very tiny example, you can readily find thousands of other cases where fertile rice fields have been taken away from farmers and are turned into golf courses and resorts. That's the real cause of our current rice shortage, not because you and I eat too much rice.
For a long time our government leaders have always resorted to the most convenient solutions for the problems that they perceive. If they need more revenues, they just raise existing taxes or impose new ones. Just think about the very recent exorbitant hikes in postage stamps, the imminent jumps in telephone rates and the introduction of fuel taxes for Jakarta. These are all quick fixes! Do they really eliminate the source of the problem? We'd be lucky if these quick fixes do not result in even more problems.
Carl couldn't be more correct when he writes "The bottom line, apparently, is efficiency". Inefficiency is one of the biggest problems in this country, and we have seen no real effort in addressing it. Take, for example, the latest suggestion to change the names of the three hospitals linked to Soeharto's foundations. Think about the need to print new letterhead and forms, design new logos, create new seals, etc. These will just cause more unnecessary expenses while they won't address the real problem at all.
Carl, keep on writing your great pieces. Keep reminding our readers that the problems we have now are the outcome of too many quick fixes that have hardly anything to do with the core of the problems.
ZATNI ARBI
Jakarta