The morality crisis

The morality crisis

Morality is on the minds of most Indonesians these days. The ruling elite relentlessly remind us to respect moral values, while the average citizen continues to complain about the slow disappearance of morality from daily life.

We are a nation that places the belief of God above all other things, and one that believes morality should be our guiding principle in life. Last year former cabinet minister Emil Salim, known for his ethical approach to addressing the nation's problems, lamented the fact that morality has taken a back seat to economic development.

His statement failed to provoke a positive reaction from the ruling elite and has since faded from memory. Yet the public's concern remains. Last weekend, Julius Cardinal Dharmaatmadja, the chairman of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, asserted that moral decadence at every level of society derived from a lack of respect for the law and basic rights as well as a reluctance to ensure equal justice under the law.

The cardinal, who generally refrains from talking about politics, does not believe that a political system can be completely outside the domain of morality. Politicians have a responsibility to help improve the welfare of their constituents as well as their dignity. Humanitarianism, he said, should guide politicians as they make decisions on behalf of the people.

Leaders of Kosgoro, an organization affiliated with the ruling Golkar party, said in a statement yesterday that government officials had failed to provide decent services to the public. Among the other failures cited were a rapid growth of collusion between corrupt officials and businesspeople, the practice of nepotism, and a degradation of the supremacy of law.

The complaints are nothing new. Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja, who has made serious attempts to clean up the city administration, admitted in 1995 that the city's public services were getting worse and that he was unsure of how to improve them.

The deteriorating situation has been made worse by the absence of a checks and balances system. The public and media lack the courage to censure the condition, for fear of anti-establishment or left-wing accusations.

The authorities repeat the same old statements when they are accused of breaching the people's trust or engaging in illicit business practices. When several international organizations put Indonesia at the top of their lists of the world's most corrupt countries in 1995 and 1996, officials here called the accusation groundless. The government, they said, had done a lot to combat corruption by establishing anti-graft agencies.

It was therefore tragic to learn later of the complaints of the Development and Finance Control Board (BPKP), which found that many ministries had refused to follow up on the board's findings on graft.

So suddenly, after reading yesterday that even a group within Golkar had joined the chorus calling for a moral correction, it appears that the moral condition here has reached a critical low.

The problem now is: Who will be the first to set an example of a clean government? In a paternalistic culture, the people need a role model more than hollow statements. Finding this person will be no easy task as members of our ruling elite have always been more concerned about right or left than about right and wrong.

Perhaps Kosgoro could lead the search. But until the right figure is found, our nation may look like one that has marched forward in economic development, but backwards in morality.