Officials that we can be proud of

Officials that we can be proud of

From Kompas

In Mang Usil's column "Rasa sayang-sayange" (a feeling of love), which appeared in Kompas on Oct. 26 , the columnist comments on President Habibie's statement: "I want to be loved as a friend who is respected and not feared." Likewise, the community also wants to be loved and attended to. Moreover, the Indonesian people want a president they can take pride in.

They also want to have an Armed Forces they can feel proud of. They want to have a police force they can take pride in. They want to have representatives they can be proud of. And they want to be able to not only love all these people but also to be proud of them.

Unfortunately, they have only ever been disappointed by the president, the Armed Forces, the police, their representatives and other officials. This is a fact and saying this does not disparage all of these people, nor does it mean finding an excuse for them.

What I deplore is that we have a leader who, instead of taking action, spends more time making statements and finding excuses, although he is already quite popular. I have also often seen and heard a leader who, instead of giving instructions for action, spends more time giving comments or finding excuses. For example, he says, "This is masterminded by a certain puppet master or a certain group of people." In fact, it is his job to arrest the puppet master or these groups of people, not just comment about them.

In this era of reform there are many flowers and many victims. But we need to make sure that our attention is not diverted from our main goal of reform by unrelated issues.

Hopefully after the next general election the Indonesian people may have leaders that they can not only love and respect but also take pride in.

PONG HARDJATMO

Jakarta