Lack of sense of crisis

In The Jakarta Post dated Sept. 30 there was a news report saying that President B.J. Habibie summoned several ministers and high ranking officials advising them about the plan to renovate his office in the Merdeka Palace.

He wants to have an office with an atmosphere which will inspire him to think more seriously about the fate of the Indonesian people.

I am certainly proud that the president should have such an office and of course he deserves that convenience. But there is one thing that bothers me. Part of the budget for the renovation will be taken from the budget of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which will inevitably curtail the activities of the development programs of the ministry concerned.

In view of the present crisis, I would like to propose that the President make use of the existing office and let the ministers concentrate on efforts to find the best solution to the economic crisis. To be inspired to improve the fate of the people, the President, can instead make frequent trips to villages where most people are living below the poverty line.

Proceeding with the plan of renovating his working office will only show that he lacks the sense of the crisis which God knows when it will end.

M. SULHAN ASKANDAR

Jakarta