Maybe Pfizer can rise to the occasion

JAKARTA (JP): To be honest, I'm no longer concerned about when the IMF, the World Bank, CGI or all the rich countries in the world will have enough confidence in our government that they start disbursing their money to bail us out of our current mess.

I think those institutions and donor countries can just keep on delaying the delivery of their promises for the time being. I don't think we need their money, at least for now, because, as I see it, we now have a much more pressing need than just money.

The only people that we should turn to for help at the moment, in my opinion, are the people who work in the labs at Pfizer, a U.S. based pharmaceutical company that not so long ago made headlines in the mass media. They are the ones that may have something that can save the future of our country.

You see, last March this company received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration that allowed them to market Viagra. This blue pill immediately swept men from all walks of life off their feet. Instantly, men all over the world craved Viagra. Even Malaysian men are reportedly not deterred by its high price: US$10 each.

Interestingly, although dozens of deaths have been reported as related to its use since its introduction in March, people still take it. In fact, a lot of men have vowed that, if they should die, they'd die gladly as long as they die on Viagra. This really demonstrates how effective -- and coveted -- the hot pill is.

What does it do that makes it so overwhelmingly popular? Technically speaking, Viagra adds a certain chemical called sildenafile citrate into the blood so that a man's erection does not immediately subside after he climaxes. All right, now the question should naturally be, why in the world do we need a pill like this to save the future of our nation?

To answer this question, let's turn back one or two pages and go back to our very recent history. Let's look back at how our very recent struggle for reform started. You know, after years of foreplay, suddenly the reform impetus started to build up very rapidly. The reform movement was picking up momentum before we realized it was really happening. Suddenly all things impossible happened: Students were able to congregate on their campuses and organize rallies -- something that had hitherto been completely out of the question. Suddenly the legislative building compound became widely accessible to constituents. Suddenly calls for president Soeharto to resign came out of the most unlikely mouths.

Things were happening more and more quickly, and the dizzying pace kept increasing. Until the climax, which was reached on the morning of May 21.

And there were shouts, there were cries of joy. There were feelings of ecstasy. There were fresh hopes...

Unfortunately, as quickly as it reached its peak, the Indonesian reform struggle of 1998 seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon. Just two months after the orgasm, it was once again life as usual.

We started to hear again bizarre statements from the people up there. Once again we began hearing arguments that defy common logic and official statements that simply benumb our intelligence. And once again we helplessly see the emergence of more and more senseless regulations that simply make the current burden even heavier for the common people.

The cost of public services, most notably postal and telecommunications services, have soared -- totally ignoring the dire state of our people. Suddenly, it is deja vu all over again.

That is why what we need now is a type of Viagra that can help us keep the thrust of the reform struggle as strong as it was at the time the powerful master was ejaculated from the throne. What we need is a Viagra that can continue to propel reform, lead our leaders and make them look harder at the real problems that we are facing.

Without this type of Viagra, the reform hysteria will be over long before the objectives are reached.

It's my hope that scientists at Pfizer can quickly come up with a Viagra-like formula that will enable us to keep the reform ball rolling. Otherwise, the deaths, the sufferings and the humiliations of the reform victims will simply disappear into thin air.

Their unspeakable agonies will simply be buried in our history. That is, if any history of Indonesia is going to be relevant after all.

Hello there, Pfizer. Can you help Indonesia?

-- Zatni Arbi