Your Letters

Your Letters

Pavements for
pedestrians

I have been visiting Indonesia since 1976, and for the most
part, have ridden in chauffeur-driven cars. Very comfortable.

However, recently, and now, while I am awaiting the delivery
of a car, I am a pedestrian. When are the town planners of
Jakarta and other towns and cities going to wake up to the fact
that this wonderful country is full of pedestrians? They get a
rotten deal.

Billions are spent on road development with no apparent
thought given to the pavement or the people on foot, who
outnumber the cars.

Proper pavements would force the Mikrolet or other minibuses
to keep to the road thereby avoiding weaving in and out of the
traffic.

Life for the pedestrian would be much more comfortable if the
bus stops were cleaned up, traffic control properly enforced in
an orderly manner, and when that has been done, the authorities
should then worry about open doors.

PHILIP HATCH-BARNWELL

Jakarta

Nuclear
energy

In reference to your article Indonesia determined to go
nuclear despite fierce criticism published on Tuesday, April 19,
1994, by Stephen Carr, I need to make the following comments:

1. The main reason why Indonesia has embarked on a policy for
the diversification of energy, is because of the limited amount
of renewable sources of energy available in Indonesia in the
short and long run. This would depend on their economic and
technological feasibility including environmental considerations
that must be applied. "Inexpensive conventional sources of
electricity" can also apply to nuclear energy whenever NPP is
competitive, and the same applies to solar-voltaic cells, wind
and other non-conventional sources. This is especially important
for the island of Java and Bali, where most of Indonesia's energy
is being consumed, and where an optimal energy mix is urgently
needed, taking into considerations the level of the environmental
impacts associated.

2. A nuclear power station may cost US$ 2 billion to build,
while a coal fire plant is a little bit cheaper, but to run a NPP
and a clean coal plant (including DESOX and DENOX) through its
lifetime of 30 years and more, adding operation into the amount
along with maintenance and fuel costs, then we can really see
that a nuclear power plant is competitive to a coal fired plant.

3. "An independent regulatory agency" at this very moment is
awaiting approval by the government. We also welcome this effort.

4. Aside from the human errors which were found to be the main
cause of the Chernobyl accident, the Chernobyl plant itself
lacked the safety features commonly found in reactors built by
the U.S. and Europe.

The Chernobyl reactor design does not have any containment,
but rather compartments which are not able to prevent the release
of radioactivity from the reactor core. This is not the case with
the U.S. and European designs, where the reactors are designed
with containment, which is able to prevent the release of
radioactivity into the environment in normal and accident
situations. In the case of the TMI accident, the containment was
able to prevent any release of radioactivity into the
environment.

The Chernobyl reactor does not apply an inherent safety
philosophy, which is the case with PWRs and BWRs designed by the
U.S. and Europe. The characteristic of the Chernobyl reactor that
is not inherent concerns the positive void coefficient, where the
increase of fuel temperature will be followed by the increase of
power due to the number of voids in the fuel. The U.S. and
European designs apply the negative void coefficient.

5. However, the Chernobyl and also the TMI accident made the
industry learn more from these accidents, and improve their
designs much better, following high standards of safety and
reliability.

In advanced designs, some efforts have been made to increase
the safety, by among other, the increase of the standard and
safety level of NPP to 10-4 of the Core melt frequency per year
to less than 10-6 CMF per year (CMF of Chernobyl is 10-3 per
year). Besides this, a passive safety philosophy is being
applied, a lower work load by the operator is possible, and to
anticipate operators' errors automation and improvements in
ergonomics are made.

Indonesia will not be using designs like the Chernobyl Plant.
The technology that will be used is technology in which safety
comes first.

By using proven and reliable technology, supported by a sound
operation and maintenance system, and where safety comes first,
accidents like the Chernobyl accident hopefully will never happen
again.

SOEKARNO SUYUDI

Director of Bureau for Public

Acceptance and Cooperation on

Science and Technology,

Jakarta

Stay in
your dreams

World was closing-in, but only for a while.

Why won't it last, once for ever?

Strewn bodies, smoke-filled air, senseless killings, scary
separatists.
(It was Bosnia, then Rwanda and Yemen now!)

Sad story of Satan at his best!

The world isn't ready; it may never be free from greed, with
only love to breed.

There's not any Eden, except in one's dreams.

So sleep, sleep, little ones, as long as you can.

For it could be long before you get to sleep again!

So sleep, sleep, sleep, and stay in your dreams!

A. KRISHNAN

Surabaya, E. Java

IDT program
and poverty

From Tempo

Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, is one of Indonesia's poorest
villages and is included in the IDT program (for the least
developed villages).

I came to my home village, Gunung Kidul, recently and I found
the villagers including my parents complaining about unnecessary
fees; each family has to pay Rp 2,000 for buying administration
equipment for the village officials, and Rp 10,000 is collected
from each person for building a village hall.

Both the fees paid have not a direct impact on their income,
on the contrary the rule has resulted in a decrease of their
earnings.

The villagers paid the fees in the first three months of this
year, and at the same time they had to pay tax for their land and
buildings.

Prior to a village competition which will be hold in the near
future, the villagers believe that they will be requested to
donate their money to subsidize the festival. It is really hard
for them because as farmers they have irregular income.

When I tried to ask about the IDT program, most of them
refused to discuss it seriously. It seems that they have been
bored of hearing of such a program.

For the villagers, the program, like other programs, is merely
a slogan which will not change the situation. They have a strong
reason for being skeptical. For instance, recently they have got
some reservoirs and rice aid from Ministry of Social Services,
but they never receive the rice and do not know where it went.

Listening to their complaints, I remember the polemic of the
IDT program between Prof. Sayogyo and Prof. Mubyarto. As a
scientist, Prof. Sayogyo is more realistic in analyzing it, but
his counterpart Prof. Mubyarto as the creator of the program is
very optimistic at the success of his program which costs
billions of rupiah.

It will be better for the government and Prof. Mubyarto to dig
much more information, especially the good will of village
officials, before they enforce the very expensive program in the
poorest villages.

If the program is not organized properly, I believe that the
villagers will have to pay more money for something whose
benefits are doubtful.

DARMANINGTYAS

Surabaya, E. Java

Presidential
succession

From Forum Keadilan

The issue of the next presidential succession is widely
discussed although President Soeharto has been in office for one
year, in this current term.

A well-known analyst of the Indonesian social and political
affairs, Prof. Donald W. Wilson, made an interesting statement
about the requirements of a future president: he/she must be a
Moslem, Javanese and member of the Armed Forces.

I absolutely do not agree with his version because the 1945
Constitution obviously states that: President of Republic of
Indonesia must be a native Indonesian. It means that Javanese,
Irianese, and other ethnic groups are eligible, as long as he has
high qualities and skills and the most important thing is that
people want him or her to become their leader.

The criterion for future presidents of this republic should be
in line with article No. 6 and paragraph No. 1, of the 1945
Constitution. Whoever the president is, he/she must listen to and
understand the people's aspirations.

SANUSI

Banda Aceh, Aceh

Do we need more
organizations?

From Kompas

Many organizations grouping intellectuals have been founded
recently. This makes me, and perhaps most Indonesians, confused.
Why? The answer is a question:

What is the point of founding such organizations? Educational
degrees and high positions in a bureaucracy or institution are
not the only benchmark which shows that someone is an
intellectual.

The duty of an intellectual or scholar is to think of what
this country and society needs to maintain unity and to find a
way to make the people clever and so on.

It would be better for all of us to dedicate our ability to
our society and practice the values in the state ideology
Pancasila, such as living side by side among our fellow citizens,
who profess different religions, and are of different ethnic
backgrounds and cultures. I think it is more realistic to express
and strengthen our sense of nationality and more important than
setting up an exclusive group which can break the unity and
integrity of our nation.

My point is that in order to build a strong sense of
nationality among our people and to make them clever, we don't
need to join the Association of Indonesian Nationalist
Intellectuals (ICKI), the Association of Indonesian Moslem
Intellectuals (ICMI) or any other organization. Doing what each
of us does best is surely enough. I believe that being both a
journalist and lecturer, I am in a position to express concern
about this republic.

BUDIARTO SHAMBAZY,

Jakarta