Stability and progress

Stability and progress

In a speech during the opening of the national conference of
Pepabri -- the Indonesian Veterans Association -- President
Soeharto stressed the importance of stability and security and
asked that veterans and members of the Armed Forces continue to
guard the national stability in general, the social security and
order in particular.

It is indeed paradoxical that it is precisely due to the
development and the change that has taken place -- that it is due
to the tremendous dynamism that is at present pervading every
aspect of life, that an awareness of the need for stability, for
security and for the prevalence of a sense of assurance is
essential, more than ever before.

However, the objective which we must all strive to achieve is
the maintenance of a stability and security of an increasingly
solid quality, that is founded more and more on insight and
responsibility and less and less on fear of punishment and
forceful coercion.

The roots, the pillars and the infrastructure of the stability
that comes in the wake of economic development must be made to
grow deeper, stronger and more rooted among the people. The
people's responsibility and participation must become wider and
more active.

At a certain point of development economic deregulation will
not be optimally functional unless it is accompanied by political
deregulation. The form of such political deregulation should be
first of all a shift in the role of the government bureaucracy
from direct intervention to policy formulation and general
control.

-- Kompas, Jakarta