The President's speech

President Megawati Soekarnoputri's New Year's Eve speech, which was recorded on Dec. 28 before she took off for vacations in Bali, reflects the inherent [tendency] trait of[for] Indonesians to look only at the positive side of things. At one point of her speech she stated: "However difficult our world, it's not doomsday yet. There are other countries whose conditions is far worse than ours at present."

In a great number of Indonesian households this statement could be seen as to reflect an insensitivity. With so many heads of families having lost their jobs, their savings spent, their children forced to drop out of their schools, the specter of eviction from their rented homes possibly hanging over their families' heads and with no improvement in sight, it must look as if doomsday has already arrived.

As for the president's statement that there are other countries that are faring far worse than Indonesia at present, it should come as no surprise that her words have attracted some rather cynical comments among members of the community. It is true that Indonesia is not like some African countries, which are suffering from famine and AIDS epidemics.

We can also count ourselves fortunate for not having had to share the fate of the people of Afghanistan, who for have for years gone bent under the oppressive rule of the Taliban and then endured the massive bombing raids of the Americans in their search for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization. It is also fortunate that we have not experienced the collapse of our monetary system as has happened in Argentina, triggering street demonstrations and a succession of presidential changes.

However, after having counted our blessings and being grateful for the fact that things are a little better in Indonesia, where does that leave us? Because the other side of that self-extolling remark is the sad story of missed opportunities and time wasted because of indecisiveness in government circles.

Millions of Indonesians would have been better off and the proverbial poverty line could have been a little lower had this country had a government that knew what to do and the courage to implement the required decisions.

This year 2002 is important for precipitating improvements in practically every sector of our national life because next year our political leaders, who are also manning the top governmental positions, will start preparing themselves for the 2004 general elections.

The question now is how to instill a sense of urgency among our leaders, starting with President Megawati, to trigger movement so that decisions can be made and implemented to solve the long-festering conflicts in a number of localities throughout the country, speed up the divestation of assets in order to replenish the state coffers, clean up the banking industry in order that it can properly carry out its function of stimulating economic activity, and many other necessary undertakings.

There is no better way than for the public, especially its leaders, the press, academics, the people's representatives in the various legislative bodies to continue to express their opinions and their criticism. After all, that is what democracy is about: the airing of different opinions and the channeling of criticism.

President Megawati and her associates had better get used to this fundamental characteristic of democracy.