Why not a dialog?

The current economic crisis, which is becoming worse and worse by the day, is concerning not only the authorities but also people of all walks of life. The troubles look more critical considering the aging national leadership and the absence of a clear picture of how a change of guard might be effected.

The government has worked hard to try to overcome the crisis and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tried to rescue our economy. But people have seemingly lost confidence in the government and started to panic.

To expedite a solution to the crisis a scholar has suggested holding a national dialog. Adi Sasono, secretary-general of the Moslem Intellectuals' Association (ICMI), who first voiced the idea, believes the authorities need to sit down with outspoken politicians, in a formal or informal setting, as part of their efforts to find the best way to solve the problems.

The government, he said, should be proactive and anticipative in this respect. Amien Rais, a political observer from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, who is also chairman of the Muhammadiyah Moslem socio-educational organization, supported the idea. He elaborated on it, saying such a national dialog should include open-minded government leaders, politicians, and leaders of religious and nongovernmental organizations.

According to Amien, the dialog should seriously evaluate the present crisis to determine whether it needs a new national leadership to solve it, its psychological aspects and its connections to national and international politics. Amien also believes the nation should let the People's Consultative Assembly, which will meet in March to elect the national president, resolve the situation constitutionally.

The idea of the dialog has won support from many noted politicians and religious leaders. Some politicians have said it should take place before the Assembly meets.

Their support is nothing but logical since the crisis is the most serious challenge this nation has faced in three decades. Such an idea is not a new agenda here because even during the turbulent struggle for independence in the 1940s this nation had enough time and tolerance to organize such a dialog. Why should it now be taboo?

Dialog is what this nation is badly in need of today because the current crisis so multidimensional. Thus it would be too risky to let it be solved by only a few people. We are not of the opinion that there is a paucity of responsible and qualified people among our 200 million citizens. Many such people have emerged as national figures in serious dialogs.

And all parties should also take into consideration that failure to overcome the current crisis will only lead to chaos on a scale which will be impossible for the government to contain. If this really happens the government will need people to talk to but we are afraid it would, by then, be too late.

Many people share this belief but have said that the authorities should also see to it that our political system does not become farcical with a new strong man appearing to stem the crisis.

It is high time the authorities strived for a greater level of wisdom and let all people play an active role in resolving the crisis given the turmoil at hand.