Our troubled power elite

Our troubled power elite

On the face of it, the bureaucratic elite allows criticism and
differing opinions. However, it is at the same time trying to
stifle both through various means in order to preserve the status
quo. Wallowing in affluence and bolstered by an authoritarian
administration, Indonesia's elite is emulating the behavior of
bureaucrats everywhere and is lacking in sensitivity to the tide
of change sweeping across the country.

However, all the time, energy and money that they are spending
to this end will not be able to stem the drift towards change,
while at the same time a process of decay is beginning to weaken
their very foundations, leaving them increasingly vulnerable to
political upheaval. It is not impossible that we will be feeling
the effects (of this process) within the not too distant future.

More and more political experts and thinkers in the West are
expressing fear that this stubborn unwillingness to change their
thinking to suit the times is tantamount to digging their own
graves. Perhaps the powerful elites of the Third World will even
precede those of the West in greeting their own doom.

-- Merdeka, Jakarta