On Indonesia's recovery

On Indonesia's recovery

From Pikiran Rakyat

Considering that up until the first days of 2001 Indonesia has
continued to be disorganized in terms of the economy, politics,
law enforcement, observation of human rights, national security
(in particular the recent Christmas night bomb blast at/near
several churches and other recent bombings) as well as personal
security. I am afraid I will remain pessimistic that my country,
Indonesia, will be able to recover this year despite the optimism
of our President, the Coordinating Minister for Economy Rizal
Ramly and others.

One of my reasons for being pessimistic is the fact that
President Gus Dur has very often made controversial statements
which in turn have resulted in negative impacts to the nation's
political and economic stability, including his recent statement
saying that the police had managed to arrest Tommy Soeharto,
which was later denied by the national police chief. Meanwhile,
from my observation I can tell that partisan infighting amongst
members of the political elite will continue for the sake of
their groups rather than the national interest.

To start improving the country's condition, I think, we should
continue criticizing our president with the hope that he will
change his attitude and depressing habit of issuing controversial
statements as well as taking action "as he wishes" (which among
others has caused Minister Ryaas Rasyid to resign from the
cabinet).

SURYATI

Bandung