Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said Tuesday he would issue a ruling for students and civil servants to wear batik once a week.
He said he would send a letter to National Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo and Home Minister Mardiyanto so they could recommend students and civil servants wear the national dress weekly. Aburizal also said he would ask the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) to recommend private sector employees wear batik once a month.
Your comments:
And who will pay for the nice batik shirts you want the school kids to wear, Pak Ical? Many poorer parents already struggle to pay for the "free" education they were promised. The last thing many of them need right now is to have to shell out for yet another school shirt.
It is a certainty that some schools will react to this ruling by insisting that students buy a particular batik, only available from a certain supplier at a certain price, so the principal will earn a nice commission. Just how will this improve the welfare of ordinary people, Pak Ical? Surely it would be better if companies like the Bakrie empire instead bought batik uniforms for their employees.
David
Jakarta
*Hassan's boys' shape RI's diplomacy -- Oct. 12, p. 2
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has had to call back the Indonesian Ambassador to Cambodia, Ngurah Swajaya, even though he only just got there. Reportedly the minister needed one of his brightest boys to assume a new and more strategic post: the country's ambassador to ASEAN. "The minister really has no choice as he is the best expert on ASEAN," a senior diplomat said last week, referring to the regional grouping of 10 Southeast Asian nations.
Your comments:
If only other government institutions could follow suit.
A nation's global stature and prominence on the international stage depends very much on the competency of its diplomats.
Syahrul Luddin
Vienna, Austria
With FM Hassan and all his smart boys there hasn't been one single Indonesian diplomatic initiative in the Middle East since he has been in office, and that's a while already. And that's despite the fact that Indonesia has troops there and even a constitutional requirement to promote world peace.
Indonesia is a country with huge diplomatic potential because its political Islam is moderate and tolerant and it could play a large role in the Middle East's peace process (and in other areas as well).
But not according to Hassan. He is as careful as they come, a true diplomat. It's important to have good diplomats but you have to have the vision and courage to put them to use.
Watching Indonesia from the sidelines, the Foreign Ministry looks much like the rest of the country - huge potential but far too little of it is being realized. In short, it's a waste of precious resources. Let's hope the incoming government will put Hassan and his bright boys to better use.
Emanuel Shahaf
Jerusalem
