Taking responsibility

Taking responsibility

It is not often that one hears President Megawati Soekarnoputri speak openly and with candor about her 16-month-old presidency -- or, indeed, about anything at all. That, more than anything else, is probably the reason why the remarks that she made on Thursday, off the cuff, before participants at the Muhammadiyah annual conference in Bali got the appreciative public attention that they did.

Conceding that the country was currently in desperate straits, the president said that "almost none" of the options that were available to the nation to lift itself out of its present difficulties were easy to take -- much less pleasant. "This is the reality that we must face," the president said. "With all the shortcomings on my part, of which I am convinced the public is well aware, I will bear the responsibility."

The president said she was well aware of the impatience that existed among the public with the slow progress of the reform movement in the wake of the fall of the previous authoritarian and oppressive regime. However, she said, many people were getting more than impatient and were starting to lose their bearings. "Hence," Megawati said, "criticism often takes on the appearance of a threat and loses its character of advice that is normally given by friends and comrades in arms."

Whether or not she is aware of the fact, Megawati's speech in Bali on Thursday represents one of the few efforts she is seen to be making to reach out to the public and explain, factually and straightforwardly, in terms that the people can understand, not only the current state of affairs of the nation, but also her own position in it all and the efforts her government is making to overcome the difficulties.

We are confident that the Indonesian people will be ready to bear the hardships of the present and support the government, provided that their top leader can persuade them to swallow the bitter medicine that is, after all, as the president implied in her speech, the only cure for the nation's current illness. Having heard some of Megawati's speeches before she became president, we are also confident that she can do it. After all, it was her personal charisma that made her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), the mass-based popular party that it now is.

As for the criticism against her handling of state affairs, we for our part remain convinced that there is no malicious intent on the part of the president's critics. On the contrary, most are trying to help. However, in Indonesia, one of the most diverse nations on the face of the earth, differences in forms of civility must be taken into account.

Democracy implies a system of checks and balances that is designed not only to control the government and keep it on the right track, but also to help it find solutions to the nation's problems. What people are waiting for is to see and be told what is being done to solve the nation's problems. In any case, we hope that the president's open and candid remarks on Thursday signal a turn for the better in the near future.