a political view of Indonesia

An afternoon post for your reading - a political view into Indonesia

If Indonesia's government were like Singapore's government, we'll be dead 45 years ago. Fortunately, Indonesia's government has never reached the standards of our government, and at the moment, we have nothing to worry about, pertaining to Indonesia.

For the 15 years I have been living on this area of South-East Asia, my mindset of Indonesia has been crafted into an unsightly shape.

Whenever I think of the word 'corruption', the first country I would think of would be, you guessed it, Indonesia.

Now why do you think I would say that? Am I, by any chance, racist against people of different cultures? No.

As a matter of fact, the reason why Indonesia ranks high in the corruption list* can be based on the economy of this archipelago. Here is a passage from Infoplease.com:

"In the summer of 1997, Indonesia suffered a major economic setback, along with most other Asian economies. Banks failed and the value of Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, plummeted. Antigovernment demonstrations and riots broke out, directed mainly at the country's prosperous ethnic Chinese. As the economic crisis deepened, student demonstrators occupied the national parliament, demanding Suharto's ouster. On May 21, 1998, Suharto stepped down, ending 32 years of rule, and handed over power to Vice President B. J. Habibie"

Previously, in the years under Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, Indonesia had prospered in terms of economy. This was immediately after gaining independence from the Dutch.

After passing on the control to Suharto, the nation continued to prosper and its economy improved tremendously. Although there were general elections, the present government had very huge control over the oppositions' actions.

And that significant year of 1997 saw the crash of the Asian market. Indonesia was badly affected, and the rupiah was affected so much so that one Singapore dollar would be a thousand or so rupiah.

Unfortunately, this has lead to worsening of the country's situation - corruption would soon be rampant. Imagine you were a policeman earning so little income a month, and a criminal offers you a hundred-fold of your current salary to let him off. At the point of time, it is indeed forgivable to forget about the safety of one's nation and think about the safety of yourself.

With such a huge amount of money in your hand, you would be able to support your inpoverished family,only able to eat a bowl of rice every day. This decision would indeed be inevitable. The power of money is of course, very delicious.

Bringing you back in to the context, should such a case affect every official in Indonesia, it is not surprising to see why Indonesia has turned into such a corrupted country. The road back to clean politics would not be easy, considering once again the large population of the archipelago state.

In order to attain balance, Indonesia must strive to bring its economy back on track.

However, this is easier said than done. There are a number of factors that do not allow for such a change for the better to be made. These include: the population, the lack of morale within the law-keeping departments, and ultimately, the poor economy.

Today, many Indonesians are still living in the mire of poverty and the inability to keep up with the urbanisation.

Given the current position of Indonesia, there is definitely no cause of worry for Singapore to face stiff competition from them in economical terms, and in a more serious case, a military conflict.


Do catch the 8.00pm show on CNA of Myanmar: War of the Worlds



*corruption list to be found here: