Safety net money abused
Once again this newspaper is devoting a column to the issue of the misappropriation of social safety net money. Once again, because the problem is being allowed to be forgotten, or to evaporate, with no legal action ever being taken. Case upon case has surfaced, only to be forgotten or left to mere gossip.
We know that there are many kinds of thieves. Some are big fish, others are small, and there are also other species of thieves. Their hands are dirty, their mouths hungry, their souls evil.
Social safety net money is meant to help people so poor they are dying. The money is available because of the efforts of compassionate foreigners. This is the money (the thieves) are stealing to be used for various purposes, including money politics. They may be big fish or small fish, but whatever species they belong to, they are bandits....
We are like a pond filled with contaminated water. In this pond even the most robust, healthy and clean fishes get poisoned. Our problem is not to replace the fish, but the water. Courage is needed, and therefore reform is essential.
The current reform movement is a bottom-up movement, spearheaded by students. Corruption, on the other hand, is a top- down phenomenon. Experience, however, has shown that it cannot be eradicated from the top down, because there are no longer any clean fishes in our murky pond. We notice that precisely this kind of bottom-up movement is at present being undertaken by a number of nongovernmental organizations with increasing vitality.
These people are working methodically, with perseverance and courage. If proof is what is needed, they can provide it. It is important, therefore, that this contest be taken to a court of justice so that it will be known who precisely is being challenged.
Whatever the case, we feel optimistic because the capability has been born (among us) to exert control on an increasing scale. We feel justified to be optimistic because this is an indication that a strong civil society is in the making.
So, whoever wins the upcoming general election, one task that awaits them is clear. The murky water must be thrown out of our pond and the sick fish replaced with others that are truly healthy.
-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta