Who cares about the future of this nation?

Mochtar Buchori, Legislator, Jakarta

Every time I see the grim faces of angry demonstrators on television, I can't help asking myself whether our political leaders really care about our future. Isn't there one single political leader who has the courage to tell the angry mob that their fierce rhetoric can ruin our country?

Even now, while demonstrators have not yet committed destructive physical acts, we have already felt the pains resulting from their pernicious rhetoric. Foreign tourists in the country left immediately, while those who had not yet arrived canceled their reservations. Foreign investors are equally reluctant to come to the country.

Interest in our export commodities has declined sharply, compelling many of our manufacturers to close their factories. This in turn has caused unemployment to rise dramatically and the rupiah exchange rate against the U.S. dollar has again plummeted to an alarmingly low level, making many daily necessities way out of reach of many. This list of negative impacts brought on by our political anger and frustration can be extended ad infinitum.

Do the leaders who have organized these demonstrations realize the economic and political consequences of their actions? It is very difficult to accept that they do not.

Their political objectives are beyond my knowledge. It must certainly be something that will eventually advance their political interests. You don't spend so much energy, so much time, and so much money without hoping to gain something.

I feel sad and frustrated, not only because these demonstrations clearly show that none of our political leaders are sincerely interested in building our future, but more importantly because the rhetoric behind these demonstrations provides no room for clear and healthy thinking.

All the slogans and doctrines tend to capture public thinking about global issues at only a primordial level. I see no sign that our leaders recognize the need to guide the public toward a fair and farsighted view of the current global situation, and foster a more positive outlook about our collective future as a nation.

If such an effort were made, our political leaders would undoubtedly see the necessity of making the public aware that our future as a nation is part and parcel of the common future of humankind, and that any deliberation on this matter should take into account the fundamental principles of human survival. Fairness and evenhandedness are absolute prerequisites for political negotiations that aim at effective and long-lasting solutions.

All the rhetoric in these demonstrations boil down to one message: To condemn the United States and Britain for their military onslaught against a poor and miserable Islamic country, Afghanistan.

The U.S. and Britain, representatives of the mighty West, use their military muscles to crush an innocent Islamic country. It is not only in Afghanistan that Islam is being attacked.

In the Middle East, the same story is reenacted. Over there, the West has relentlessly been pounding Islam, while continuously aiding Israel, its main enemy, in its quest for endless expansion of its territory.

Up to this point I can still follow, although not approve, their argument, and control my temper. Afghan Muslims are indeed the poor underdog in the face of the U.S. and Britain, the great world powers.

"Who can prevent me from showing sympathy for our poor fellow Muslims? Who can fault me for being angry at those big fellows who have been beating up my cousins?" Such must be how these demonstrators rationalize their actions.

But when they say that it is the U.S. which is the true international terrorist, while Osama bin Laden is the hero who defends Islam, my nerve snaps.

What has made these people think that today's very complex problems can be validly reduced into such a simple black-and- white matter? What is really dangerous about their inflammatory rhetoric is the attempt to lead the public into believing that pointing to the U.S. as the perpetrator of international terrorism solves the entire problem.

Can't these people argue, for instance, that the U.S. has still to convince the world that the Sept. 11 tragedy was indeed the brainchild of bin Laden?

If they really want to have the thinking public on their side, they should add an intellectual touch to their political rhetoric. This can be done by pointing out, among other things, that the U.S. and Britain should know the difference between bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban and the innocent people of Afghanistan now suffering from the bombings. They have had to flee their villages, are hungry and sick, and have become refugees nobody and no country really wants

Even if bin Laden has suffered some losses, at least he is not hungry and does not suffer from the cold. I think that thoughts like these can be effectively used to lend greater credibility to demonstrations designed to erode the sympathy of the world toward the West, and to advocate the use of greater reason and lesser emotion in efforts to fight international terrorism without distorting the real situation.

Building our future cannot be done by inciting anger and jealousy. Building our future requires clear thinking, vision, hard work and self-restraint. All the rhetoric generates fuzzy and confused thinking. Those demonstrations also reduce people's ability to envision the kind of future we want and can build. They distort our perception of the world around us. Neither do the demonstrations encourage self-restraint. It encourages the public toward immediate release of their anger and frustrations.

Organizing demonstrations like the ones we have had lately do not encourage the public to acquire the characteristics required for building our future. Instead the public is driven toward simplistic thinking and excessive fanaticism. In this way our political leaders virtually obstruct the development of those characteristics in the minds of the public. They do not prepare their followers for the harsh realities associated with nation and character building. Demonstrations do not make people realize that our future cannot be built upon rhetoric, corruption, collusion, and nepotism.

Thus, failure to remind the political community and the public of the latent danger that lies within those demonstrations makes our leaders guilty. He or she is guilty, because he or she does not actively prepare the public for the hard times that lie ahead.

So who among our political leaders really cares about our future?