We can learn another lesson from Korea

Thousands of people flocked the streets of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, merrily celebrating the victory of their national soccer team over Poland in the 2002 World Cup elimination match.

Like Indonesia, South Korea was also hit by the financial crisis that swept through East Asia in 1997. Their crisis was even more serious than ours.

South Korea is not yet entirely free from this crisis. Just like us, they are still struggling to get out of the crisis.

However, their hard work in the past five years has begun to bear fruit. It is estimated that their banks will have fully recovered by November this year.

What lesson can we learn from the South Korean success? First, democracy is the hope of all. For us and also for the Koreans, democracy was something acquired only after going through a painful era of repression.

Then the Koreans have made use of this democracy to make progress. Democracy is a means for them to get out of the crisis.

Undeniably, the achievement of democracy entails lengthy process, heated debates and joint decision making. Heated debates should not be just meaningless and protracted discourses, especially those that worsen our condition.

The tendency to become involved in endless debates and in faultfinding seems to be dominant in the democracy we are developing now. Democracy is only an instrument to pursue a particular interest and will eventually mean nothing to the public.

On this score we must realize what major problems we are really facing now. We must reformulate the reform that is going on without any direction now. We must build democracy as we all wish it. We must improve economic conditions and get this country out of the crisis.

Learning from the Koreans, we believe we can reach all these objectives if we are all committed to build this country. We must be really earnest to give the best and leave behind our shortcomings.

It is easy to find fault with somebody but this is pointless. It is better for us to identify our strong points, pool them and tap them to rebuild the country that is now at its worst.

-- Kompas, Jakarta