Official slams old philosophy

JAKARTA (JP): A senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs says it's high time civil servants dropped the old Javanese tradition of being "slow but sure" in their work.

Secretary General Suryatna Subrata said the tradition, reflected in the Javanese saying alon alon asal kelakon (slow but achievable), cannot be sustained in the era of globalization and free competition, Antara reported yesterday.

"The alon alon asal kelakon tradition should be dropped because it is not consistent with development and the demand for public services," he told a coordinating meeting of leaders of the Central Java provincial administration in Semarang.

Government employees, he said, must now strive to increase their professionalism and that means getting the job done swiftly. (emb)