Letter: Corruption and leadership

This refers to an article titled “Can we stop corruption in Indonesia?” (The Jakarta Post, Dec. 9, p. 7).

Corruption is related to human behavior. Most people on the earth want to be rich and in order to make their dreams come true. Sometimes they use every effort although they disobey the laws. Corruption in Indonesia, I am sure, can be reduced if we can choose our next leader properly.

Ideally our next President should have a clean track record that is free from corruption and who can lead by his head, heart and guts. With such a track record, he will be brave and not hesitant to lead corruption eradication.

He should lead with his head. I mean he must be a smart person and a risk taker. Our country has very different character when compared to most other countries: We’re an archipelago with many ethnicities and many languages. The implication is that being a leader in Indonesia is more difficult than in other countries like Singapore, Japan or the US.

He has to lead with heart. I mean our leader should have strong moral fiber and use his conscience in every decision he makes. With characters such as these, he will choose all his subordinates selectively and correctly to support his tasks. I am sure he will encourage anticorruption awareness in every institution even in school curricula at least from the primary to high school levels.

Indonesia has a patriarchal culture, so behavior of the leaders will be replicated by their subordinates.

Leaders are always role models by their followers. The bottom line is we have to choose our leaders properly if we want to reduce massive corruption in our beloved country

Papik
Batam, Riau Islands