SBY Can Pull Out The Red Card

(published by The Jakarta Post on 2 Nov 2009. Click here)


President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and Vice President Boediono have completed the selection process of their team. Fairly, the new team should be given sufficient time to work and prove whether they are capable or not. Although we are not very satisfied with the cabinet composition and the "minimum" curriculum vitae of some of them, we should not respond it with cynical comments. How could we say particular ministers are not the right person to hold the position even before they start their works? We better think positive, don't we?

President SBY will be the most responsible one for his minister failures because, using his authority, he selected whoever he thought were the suitable persons to be his team. Of course, that's also based on negotiation and political deals though SBY showed the recruitment process was the same as a professional company treated the job seekers.

At the end of the process, when the list of names was announced, the public collectively raised their eyebrows after learning of several names being put there.

However, I think the public has understood there's consequences to the government forming this grand coalition. It makes sense in politics that nothing is "gratis" (free), isn't it? In simple words, in politics, if I were to support you, how would I benefit? That's why long before SBY and Boediono won the presidential election, public have known that SBY-Boediono administration would be more colorful than before.

Of the 37 team members, 20 ministers are from political parties. Public concern about correlation between the names against the posts they have assigned, since most of them (from the political parties) did not match with their background and track record, lack of experience and competency. So what? My friends, that's the consequences, and let's think positively (again). Otherwise it will be too difficult to explain.

The selected ministers have signed an integrity pact provided by SBY. They have passed the interview, passed the medical checkup as well as the psychological test, and they have been sworn in as ministers in the presidential palace. What else? It is time for them to work, and of course, time for us to watch them do so.

Now the day is running. Let's see what the new ministers will do within first 100 days because the targets have been defined by SBY to the ministers.
We would expect the 100 days program to be closely monitored and evaluated by the President at the end of the 100 days, and if the performance of the ministers is poor, replacement is required. It's fair enough.

But, should the President SBY replace an incompetent minister from one political party with another person from the same political party? I would hope not, because the essence is to recruit the best person for the sake of the country. If initially SBY has offered the political parties to submit their best persons, and their performances donot meet with expectation after some period of time, aren't they entitled to be substituted? How could the political party take President SBY as the hostage to accept whoever candidate that they are proposing no more better resources they have?

Let's remind SBY and Boediono that they won more than 60 percent votes. Frankly, the victory could not automatically creditable to the parties that coalesced and supported the duet. Winning votes as much as sixty percent is not a trivial value in election, because if we compare it to United States presidential election 2008, Barack Obama "only" won 52.9 percent over John McCain. That's not a landslide victory, but we saw that Obama was confident in picking his confidants.

Logically, with the strong support from people, which was as much as 60 percent, there's no reason for SBY to bow down to parties' pressure. SBY should be confident since he has won the direct presidential election, and this time is the second victory for him. It was the people who consciously delivered the mandate to him, not the "king maker" like with previous presidents.

So Mr. President, I agree with you when you said to your ministers that in regards to the jobs, their loyalty should only be to the President and not to the party. You should encourage yourself to act decisively towards your ministers for serving people and perform all the best. If they failed, people would appreciate if they stepped down voluntarily. If they don't, you have to pull out a red card.

***
Serpong, 27 Oct 2009
Titus J.

Earthquake: Time for Introspection

(published by The Jakarta Post on 14 Oct 2009. Click here)

As usual, every time natural disaster strikes Indonesia, some people will relate the disaster to something divine. That’s okay, because religious people believe there is God who orchestrates everything that happens in nature. Others perceive the disaster is merely a natural phenomenon, because nature lives and tectonic plates move, so natural disasters are not an act of God. Maybe the argument is not completely wrong, because science teaches us how and why all of those things happen. Scientists will explain the earthquake that struck West Sumatra recently with logical theory.
Indonesia seems to be religious nation, so it is hard to deny that every disaster stands alone without God’s involvement. However, as a religious nation, some of us like to contradict religious beliefs with superstition. Some people who love numerology immediately analyze the date, month and year when a disaster occurs. They claim spiritual numbers can tell us what will happen in future.

Besides seeing the world through numbers, others blame natural disasters on leaders casting jinxes, because during the last term, a series of disasters occurred in Indonesia. They said it was bad luck. This is so absurd.

While some people like to be superstitious, other people believe the earthquake that claimed thousands of lives was a curse and punishment from God. The wise man says if we do not care when God is speaking, God will use the nature to speak.

Whether or not the earthquake has anything to do with God’s punishment, this is a time for us to do some introspection. We should not become too busy to make connections between the disaster and punishment from God, because we are human being with many weaknesses. Do we think people who live in Jakarta and other regions are better than those living in Padang?

Let us think positively and put negative thoughts aside. Those who always think negatively will respond the disaster by judging others, but positive thinkers will respond to it by introspecting and confessing, that we are too small, and have nothing to be proud of. The pessimists will say the disaster was a curse, a punishment and bad luck, but the optimists will see that disasters raise our consciousness and bring us back to God.

Indonesian people have been losing their original identity for a long time. We have forgotten our pride, our nation’s solidarity that was established by our founding fathers, and prefer to be proud of our own group. With the disaster, we can see that all people, regardless of social background, religion, ethnicity and culture, have come together in display of solidarity to our brothers and sisters in the afflicted area. Disaster, in fact, has made people unify and come together. Just take the example of Aceh after the tsunami 2004.

Please don’t behave as if we are the only truthful nation and consider other nations (read: Western nations) as infidels anymore, because in every disaster that has struck our country, they are the ones who quickly responded with sympathy, financial aid, modern equipments, food and even volunteers to provide relief efforts on site.

We appreciate members of the international community who do not hold our past experiences against us, such as some of their citizens dying in terrorists acts committed in Indonesia. Faced with disasters, aren’t we just meaningless human being in the middle of the vast nature?

Please don’t proclaim proudly that we are the religious nation anymore, if our country is at the top list as most corrupt countries in the world. We walk around as dignified nation, yet corruption is still rife. We know corruption destroys our moral principles and damages our country, but instead of avoiding it, we befriend corrupt individuals and try to prevent anti-graft institutions from doing their job.

Let’s reinvigorate our nation’s sense of solidarity regardless of background or attributes. Let’s remove our differences and strengthen our spirit of togetherness, not only among our fellow Indonesians, but also with members of the international community. We cannot live alone.

Our country sits on the “ring of fire” where about 90 percent of world’s earthquakes occur. If we don’t experience an earthquake today, it doesn’t mean it will not happen to us tomorrow. Natural phenomena are unavoidable but we don’t need to worry too much as long as we have many friends.

God will not handily punish humankind, because He will always send us sign before. It might be through a natural phenomenon. Actually if we’re not too busy, and want to be more humble, we can learn from what nature tells us. The problem is, He has spoken to us but we did not listen to Him, did not care, or pretending to be deaf.

***
Serpong, 6 Oct 2009
Titus J.