Issues of the day: Letter: Paradise for corrupt people

Paper Edition | Page: 8

July 10, p. 8

Corruption in Indonesia is an endless story. What is wrong with this country? Can we ever overcome this acute social pathology?

Many social experts say that corruption is part of the culture in Indonesia. From empirical and theoretical perspectives, we cannot change culture without firm and consistent law enforcement.

Why does corruption spread everywhere, to almost all aspects of our life?

The problem is our law enforcers. Corruption is rampant. We do not have a strong national leader, who can really fight this crime.

So, be careful when you vote for your leader. Learn his/her track record and whether he/she has the capacity to change our bad culture. Do not vote for a leader who has no great achievements. Vote for a statesman, not just a common politician.   

When we have a real, strong leader, we will have a comprehensive system to force people to obey the rule of law. With this idea in place, Indonesia could be a model for clean, good governance in developing countries. (By Aries Musnandar, Malang, East Java)

Your comments:

I am inclined to think than this country is on the brink of collapse.

People think that law enforcement agencies are a way to eradicate corruption and corrupt behavior. However, it seems that those who we trust to enforce the law have a tendency to violate the law themselves.

One day the Indonesian people will become fed up with this situation and start to take the law into their own hands, rather than let the corrupt government continue to bumble in its handling of the problem. Clashes between people and the government will be unavoidable.

Dionisius Katra

We will never have a high-quality leader if we do not have a serious effort to improve people’s mind-sets in general.

Corruption is common in all walks of life in Indonesia. There are only a few genuinely sincere and pious people in the nation who do their work purely and clearly.

It will be a great challenge for educators and religious leaders to improve the morality and mind-sets of the people by implementing a program to build the national character.

Fayshol Risd

As Indonesia wants to be respected in the world, it needs a very strong leader who can correct all the mistakes made in the past.

Unfortunately, I don’t see such a person at the moment. In my view, Jusuf Kalla is maybe the best person to start this process.

APH Mulders

Remember, Soeharto was a “strong” leader and a dictator — and also very corrupt.

Jaytee