Stop the world, I want to get off!

The article on the power of corporations toward good governance (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 18) by Yanuar Nugroho was highly informative in many respects. Profit, of course, has always been the main objective of business, as even the street vendor knows that cash in must exceed cash out, otherwise it's curtains.

With the profits, obviously comes the power, and that is the area where wisdom is severely lacking. The mentality of greed has unfortunately, but understandably, spiraled downwards to the grass roots, where it is more recognizable as survival, which in reality is the only option open to the poor.

No matter how many world conferences there are (and they cost an absolute fortune on their own) the people who really matter are simply not prepared to relinquish what they have. The inequalities that exist in the world have been heading in one direction for years, with most (if not all) statistics indicating that the divide is getting wider.

When I was young there used to be a saying that it was better to give than to receive, but today the opposite applies. Speaking as a Martian and looking down on this planet I see nothing but hands held out, with 10 percent full of money and the other 90 percent begging for it. The trouble is that the merry-go-round is out of control, spinning so fast that everyone is seemingly trapped and thus unable to change their ways. The do-gooders are waving their arms in absolute desperation, with the rich waving back as does royalty.

"Stop the world, I want to get off!" comes a cry from someone at the back, but as he stands, so the momentum spins him off to his death. There is silence for a while, when suddenly a lone voice is heard saying that it's OK, as now there is more food for the rest of us. This proves that the only thing on this planet that remains forever cheap is life itself.

DAVID WALLIS

Medan