Comment: Minister insists RI is not a failed state

June 21, p2

The government claimed that the country had made significant progress in the past few years, a feat that should have prevented the country from being included in the list of “failed states”.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Su-yanto said that the 2012 Failed State Index (FSI), which put Indonesia on the threshold of being a failed state, had painted an inaccurate picture of the country.

Your comments:

Indonesia is not a failed state yet, but the Indonesian government has failed to create equal opportunities for Indonesian citizens in just about every aspect of daily life.

Massive corruption, religious intolerance, uneven access to education, poor infrastructure and social injustice.

Fix those problems, else Indonesia really will become a failed state.

Van Qobas

Indeed Indonesia is not a failed state… yet.

In the same issue of The Jakarta Post that contained the “failed state” article, there was also a story that described Indonesia’s “messy” democracy as normal, according to an expert from Texas A&M University in the US.

These two articles should be read together.

Do not get confused by the compulsory mentioning of figures, points and rankings, which seem to be unavoidable in Indonesia.

Concentrate on the facts and pay special attention to what the survey said was a lack of government focus, a lack of strong leadership and other issues that Indonesians are generally aware of.

Analyze the information and finally draw your own conclusion.

See how you will rank Indonesia, despite the arguments of Minister Djoko.

Jorith Arbier