RI leaders lazy, weak, not serious: Nurcholish Madjid
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.