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.