Mentality that matters

The blessing in disguise of the medium-to-horrible traffic jam on April 23 (compared to the really horrible traffic jam on April 21) is that I had a profound discussion with my driver during the traffic. And we shared our frustrations about the mentality of our people.

Indonesians' interest in money is at an extraordinary level. The root of corruption, this mentality is almost impossible to change. The selfishness of our people is very frustrating.

My driver and I agreed that the only way to change this, was through education. And it has to be now! However sophisticated the system people try to impose on the government or institutions to combat corruption, it will mean nothing if the executors of the system are corrupt.

What is wrong with our country is the people. Not the system. Not the institutions. We have to cure the people before we can cure the nation. School is a place where good citizens are formed. If you want to make a person become environmentally aware, unselfish, open-minded, tolerant, process-oriented, long- term minded; school is the place. If you want to make a person become corrupt, short-term minded, selfish and violent; school is also the place.

Children spend almost six hours every day at school. Not to mention the extra hours of activities at school. You can teach the students a lot of things.

People want to be happy. And I know people need money to pay for food, clothing, shelter and other needs. It may sound cliched, but money cannot buy happiness.

Look at Whitney Houston. She is gorgeous. She has a very good voice. She has a good-looking husband. She has a very pretty baby. She has a huge and beautiful house. And she has a lot of money. She should be happy. But what happened to her? She ends up in a rehab for her drug and drink addictions. And her husband ends up in a jail for the same problem.

And look at Mother Theresa. She did not have a husband and children. She lived in a poor country. She lived in a shabby but clean place, along with the poor. She did not have much money. But she looked peaceful. And she made others happy, which I'm sure made her happy too.

So, I call on the government to change the orientation of our education to cultivate good behavior and ethics.

SARI SUDARSONO Jakarta