Staying at the palace

One of the initial statements from president-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was very impressive, though simple and realistic.

A palace is the right place for the head of state. We fully agree with the headline in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 25, Security concerns make SBY consider palace home. Due to security reasons, most Indonesian presidents have chosen a residential area for their home. For the first year, they could cope with the surrounding community, however they then began to feel uneasy, uncomfortable and unsafe, and got wrong advice from their inner circle, and more houses and areas surrounding their homes were purchased and turned into guardhouses.

In term of expense, certainly this requires huge additional expenses, and more personnel have to be deployed, extra utility funds must be provided to maintain the presidential complex and new security systems.

There is a great advantage for SBY staying at the State Palace. He can work more productively and put in longer working hours, even up to 24 hours a day. Then the palace would be serving its real function.

This small new step -- a very logical idea -- should be followed by all of SBY's subordinates. They must spend most of their time at their assigned government offices. By applying this cost-reduction strategy, I believe that the new Cabinet's expenses can be significantly reduced.

PAULUS GUNAWAN Jakarta