Thu, 02 Nov 2000

RI needs firmer legislation

During a lunch break in a recent conference in Singapore, I was among some people talking about China and how it had managed to fight corruption over the past two years, by bringing three big shots to court and handing out death sentences to them. A few thousand others are now in the pipeline.

When they asked me about Indonesia, I could only say that we had been combating corruption for the last 12 months, unfortunately with very minuscule results.

They also wondered why our legislation on drugs was so weak, unlike that of Malaysia, Thailand or Singapore.

Could anyone enlighten me as to what is wrong with our new government and the new legislators. Are they deaf and dumb, or illiterate or what? Why didn't they copy the good things they found abroad following their overseas trips?

Y. SANTO

Jakarta