Mental education necessary

As we all know, Indonesia is in an economic crisis and many people are feeling the pinch. There have been numerous attempts to explain the current recession, ranging from the truly informed to the quite bizarre.

One of the latter heard recently: "Indonesia decided to buy Russian jet fighters so the Americans want to destroy our economy."

I, for one, do not believe that "IMF and U.S. imperialism" are to blame. Indonesia as a nation has been borrowing and spending beyond its means. The shrewder economists have long given warning signals.

A remark of the IMF's managing director, Michel Camdessus, on television here, quite impressed me. He said under the major scheduled reforms, money saved from canceled megaprojects should go into 21st century-specific education and skills training for the Indonesian people.

Certainly for the last 30 years, we have made enormous strides in economic development. But have we done enough to progress mentally? For a middle-class Jakartan like me, it's been both comic and tragic to witness a compatriot whizzing by in a late model Mercedes, almost sideswiping other vehicles, racing to beat a red light, and to top it off, throwing a banana peel out of the window. Never saw anything of this sort? You probably haven't lived here long enough.

We seem to have gone too far in too short a time. Trappings of success are substitutes for the true substance of success. Why our nouveau riche try to lord it over the numerous have-nots is beyond me. Deep-seated feelings of unworthiness and a need to compensate, perhaps? Why can't people of wealth spend less money on ostentatious, frivolous things which only add to our national import bills?

The funds saved by the government should go towards vocational training, skills enhancement, teachers' training, and improved primary schools -- where people can start to learn the basics to earn a decent living. Oh yes, perhaps better driving schools and teaching what rules are for should be included.

FARID BASKORO

Jakarta