What is happening to this country?

While a dozen foreign countries are providing aid to save our people from starvation in Irian Jaya and Maluku, as much as US$80 billion in savings have been accumulated by Indonesians who have deposited their money in foreign banks.

While we were told not so long ago that Indonesia would become the world's fifth top economic power within the next 10 to 20 years, 40 percent of our children under five suffer from malnutrition which could leave them crippled and intellectually disabled -- if they survive.

While we proudly build planes, the teachers who educate our future generation earn Rp 25 (approximately 0.5 U.S. cent) per hour of overtime. And our country ranks 99 out of 175 in the world's human development index.

While all experts -- be they Indonesian or foreign -- attribute our present crisis to a lack of transparency, corruption and cronyism, our Assembly members refuse to include in the State Guidelines the recommendations drafted by the President's advisers for discriminative law enforcement and justice, a clean government and a professional bureaucracy.

Even though our government courageously closed 16 banks, the bank owners have been neither investigated nor punished. But innocent depositors have lost their savings.

While we spend hundreds of millions of dollars constructing huge apartment and office buildings, we cannot afford to provide standard fireproof clothing to our firemen.

Can someone tell me what is happening to this country?

OLVIA REKSODIPOETRO

Jakarta