More political openness

When I was waiting for a bus at an empty bus stop in Jakarta, I discovered a photocopy of a pamphlet pinned on the wall. It drew my attention because of the printed and handwritten messages it contained. The message conveyed was in a straight tone and could lead to public tension. It is no wonder that the government alerted the public to be wary of rumors (The Jakarta Post Sept. 29, 1995).

Nevertheless, circulating pamphlets is one of today's invisible phenomena. It happens occasionally. This was not the first rumor mongering pamphlet in the city.

Why do people secretly spread information about problems in the government? Pointers in this letter might be of use to the authorities.

The main reason is that real truth is withheld from the public. Therefore, on top of news reports of such circumstances, rumors make their mark and may even be assumed first-hand information and spread like wildfire among the public.

I believe that it would be impossible to round up the culprits and drown them in the sea. Perhaps this is one of the warning signals for the system we run today. Access to real information is limited and those who are courageous enough to dig it up, get punished.

In developed countries, these things rarely happen since access to government information is quite easy. Except for state secrets, of course.

An analogy to the human body speaks for itself. When something is wrong with our body, the first sign we notice is pain. There is discomfort, which is actually a good thing to happen, otherwise we might not know what ails the body.

The human body is a small system on this planet, it is like an organization running on a multitude of various cells. Cells will demonstrate if anything is wrong in a number of ways.

We either diagnose or treat the pain in our body with the best medicine there is. If we do not cure the ailment, the cells will inevitably go on a rampant spree and undermine the body, until it gives up and dies.

WAHYUNI RIZKIANA KAMAH

Jakarta