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