Public debate

Public debate

From Tiras

Ginandjar Kartasasmita's call for more public debate has motivated me to make some comments. His capacity as Minister of National Development Planning/Chairman of the National Development Planning Board lends further importance to this idea of public debate serving as self-criticism.

What is meant by the minister is that every government policy concerning the people at large should be made through the process of public debate; only after a subject has been thoroughly discussed should it be enacted and implemented. By so doing, people will get the impression that a sense of belonging has been developed and encouraged.

It is only common for an idea or statement to bring about pro and con attitudes, particularly in this era of openness. Here, I would like to limit my comment to the cons, or at least to the opinion that disagrees with the concept.

I refer to a statement made by Loekman Sutrisno, the Head of the Center of Research for Village and Regional Development at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He said: "The time is not ripe yet for establishing such a forum as public debate, as voiced by Ginandjar Kartasasmita. A distortion will arise if we are forced to carry out the idea."

Sutrisno's statement is, to my mind, not entirely wrong. But because the future of the nation is in the hands of the younger generation, who are part of an era of more openness, the merits of public debate should be strongly considered and further implemented in daily practice.

PARTOGI ELAM SIMANJUNTAK

Depok, West Java