[COMMENTARY] Will Indonesian leaders ever apologize for their mistakes?

Ary Hermawan
The Jakarta Post

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Jakarta / Mon, February 22, 2021 / 07:15 pm

[COMMENTARY] Will Indonesian leaders ever apologize for their mistakes?

A volunteer evacuates residents affected by the flood in Petogogan, South Jakarta on Saturday. Heavy rain in the past few days caused several parts of Jakarta and its surrounding areas to be inundated by floodwater. (Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat)

Indonesian leaders rarely apologize to the people they serve for their mistakes. This is the norm, the cynics jeer, perhaps even tradition, so there’s no point making a fuss about it. But this is no ordinary time, and we should be treating it as a big deal. I know it is not easy to address today’s challenges, be it the unravelling pandemic, the recurrent flooding or the entrenched corruption. The problem is not so much whether our leaders are able to solve them, but whether they are willing to acknowledge the pain of Indonesians who are suffering because of their failure to keep their promises. These people deserve a mea culpa from their leaders at the very least. Let us begin with Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who is in the spotlight after widespread flooding over the weekend paralyzed the capital, displaced thousands and hurt the already struggling economy. The ...