Moral recovery should begin from the top

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ethics expert Sonny Keraf said on Thursday that the nation's efforts to emerge from the prevailing moral crisis should start with the leaders in society.

Sonny said in his speech at Atma Jaya University here that people in the country remained in need of role models to make changes. Leaders, Sony added, always set the standard for the way common people behave.

"My own experience has suggested that low-ranking officials would not dare to commit corruption if top echelon ones did not do it," said Sonny, the state minister for environment during the brief tenure of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

The speech highlighted the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the university's Center for Ethical Development, in which Sonny is a co-founder.

Sonny further called on the country's leaders to take initiatives in the nationwide drive to uphold moral values. Moral deterioration is reflected, to some extent, in the rampant corruption in all levels of the bureaucracy, he said.

He suggested that people should become introspective rather than just blaming the government for the moral breakdown.

"All parts of the nation should take this moral decadence seriously because it is the source of the multifaceted crises in politics, society and the economy," he said.

Sonny said all sectors of the community had contributed to the current moral decadence and, therefore, they should start changing their own lives.

"All past sins, such as corruption and human rights abuses, were committed collectively, meaning that all parts of society played a role," he said.

Sonny suggested a national repentance, in which all people pledged not to repeat their past mistakes.

He said that making excuses or shifting the blame to other parties would only spark a distrustful environment in society.

Sonny underscored the need for self consciousness, now that the society was experiencing a comprehensive moral crisis.

"The government itself is unable to solve the moral crisis, because it has affected all elements of society. Even President Megawati Soekarnoputri herself disclosed that she was leading a 'trashy' administration," he said.

He insisted that the media could contribute to the efforts to uphold moral virtues in society, by highlighting the good people in society, not only the corrupt ones. The press, he said, should give appropriate space to the few good people who are not corrupt, and who campaign for moral values.