Who cares about the future of this nation?

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?