RI leaders lazy, weak, not serious: Nurcholish Madjid

Bernie K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How do we explain the sight last Wednesday of the Indonesian delegation shopping in one of Rome's most expensive arcades while attending a world summit on hunger?

Bad timing maybe, but a note by prominent Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid that Indonesians were not serious about running the state, could be nearer to the truth.

Speaking at a seminar on the nation's leadership and morality on Thursday, Nurcholish took issue with the way Indonesians are running their nation.

"There is this moral lenience which is weakening our nation," Nurcholish told participants at the seminar held by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

Once dubbed one of the Southeast Asian little dragons, Indonesia fell from grace when the 1997 economic crisis struck the region.

While other nations recovered, Indonesia was left battered thanks to sweeping political and social changes that followed the crisis.

Over the past five years three different governments have had to cope with an ailing economy, widespread security problems and flagrant corruption.

Progress in any of these areas has been slow at best, and analysts have heaped the blame on the notion that Indonesia was undergoing a period of transition.

But Nurcholish said the problem was more endemic, marked by the nation's lousy work ethic.

"This is a nation that isn't serious about running the state. Indonesians want to take it easy, they don't care about working hard."

Consequently, he said, the country had been administered by people who indulged themselves in pleasures they did not yet deserve.

His statement came as some began to question President Megawati Soekarnoputri's frequent overseas trips.

Megawati is on a two-week tour of Europe, which comes after she visited Asian countries in April. The President attended the opening ceremony of the United Nations world summit in Rome on global hunger, with other stops including the Vatican, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In her absence, fresh violence hit conflict-torn Aceh and a bomb exploded in Jakarta for the first time under her government.

Megawati's predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid was, despite his impaired vision and fragile health, another frequent traveler.

Elsewhere, legislators have shown a disappointing lack of discipline by maintaining their poor attendance record at sittings despite persistent public criticism.

"Indonesia is a soft state. Here the difference between right and wrong isn't clear," Nurcholish explained.

The question of right or wrong, he said, was more dependent on which interest it served rather than on morality.

Putting morality on the backseat in favor of vested interests was further evidence that the nation is being run by short- sighted people, he added.

Rector of the Jakarta-based State Islamic University Azyumardi Azra also noted the lack of discipline within the country's leadership.

"What indicates this lack of morality is widespread corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN)," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone.

Azyumardi attributed this to the absence of strong political will and a civil society to push for a change.

Despite attempts toward good governance, he said, by the end it was vested interests that dominated political decisions. The 2004 general election also meant that political interests would continue to interfere.

He said that improving the country's political system might reduce such vested interests, but awareness should come from individuals within the government. "However, don't expect the government to change by itself, there must be pressure".

He added that public apathy over their own rights slowed attempts to generate pressure. To end this malaise, public education is the answer, he said.