On nepotism

Our Minister of Social Services Siti Hardijanti Rukmana has flatly denied that there was a practice of nepotism in the recruitment of the Seventh Development Cabinet, as reported in The Jakarta Post, March 18. As a matter of fact, she had been asked by her father to hold the post five years earlier but she refused the offer.

However, this time, she could not resist the order, as her father wanted her to assist him in a time of economic turbulence and hardship. She also reiterated that she's always been against corruption, collusion and nepotism. On the other hand, Amien Rais, chief of the Muhammadyah Islamic Organization, stated quite the opposite in The Jakarta Post, March 16. I do not dare to argue on their conflicting statements.

As a layman, let me present what "nepotism" means. An English- Indonesian dictionary defines nepotism as follows: prioritizing one's own relatives especially in giving a job. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Encyclopedic Dictionary, page 602 explains: nepotism = n (U) (derog) practice among people with power or influence of favoring their own relatives especially by giving them jobs.

Both dictionaries give almost the same meaning. So, one can make a private judgment on whether there is a practice of "nepotism" in the present cabinet.

DJON W. PRANOTO

Sukabumi, West Java