Nothing wrong with reference letter?

From Tempo

One of the members of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sugiarto, said recently that people must not confuse reference letters with katabelece, or memos written by persons in power to guarantee that someone will get a job or some other favor.

I do not really understand why he is so naive about this, although I know he wants to defend the head of the Supreme Advisory Council, Sudomo, who is charged with being involved in the gigantic Bapindo credit fraud. This all just goes to show how bad the morality of our officials is.

The fact is that Sugiarto often writes reference letters. For example, he gave a reference letter recently to one of his colleagues, whose son wanted to enter the Military Academy.

Does he think that the culture of sungkan (a Javanese practice which requires that younger people or those who have lower social status refrain from refusing a request or from arguing about what elders or people of higher social status say) is valid in this country? He should realize that a reference letter from those who have power and high military rank will influence any decision.

I am absolutely convinced that the son of his colleague will be accepted as a the student at the Military Academy.

The use of reference letters encourages unhealthy competition. Because those who have a close relationship with a powerful person in this country will hold reference letters and those who don't will be ignored. So, that means that reference letters are more valuable than merit. Hard work is nothing compared to lobbying.

SIGIT SETIAWAN

Temanggung, C. Java