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