|
04/20/2004
While the results of the parliament election are soon
to be final, where the Golkar Party is most likely to
be the winner, the Presidential election is heating
up. Indonesians will very soon elect their national
leader. The first round of the presidential election
will be held on July 5, 2004. The question now is,
what are the qualities of leader the nation really
needs?
Certainly, the leader we are searching for must be the
one who is capable of leading a multi-ethnic and
troubled country. Our nation is facing enormous tasks
of making progress, from improving economic and
social lives to building national unity. Thus the
ideal leadership must be the one which is capable of
showing the path to a better future, motivating people
by giving them hope, and executing a credible plan to
achieve it. Or as John D. Rockefeller said, “Good
leadership consists in showing average people how to
do the work of superior people.” In other words, a
leader must have ideas as to where he or she will lead
the nation.
Having ideas however does not mean to be a thinker.
The former US President, Ronald Reagan may not have
been able to give a profound analysis of the virtues
of capitalism but he had a good idea about it when he
said, “Gorbachev, turn this wall down”. For Reagan,
the idea of capitalism is just a simple as the bad
idea of communism.
So, a leader must look for ideas. And equivalently
important, she or he also must look for strengths in
realizing the ideas. Leadership is about having the
insight to understand problems and to seek solutions
-- ideas, and the strength and stamina to see carry
them out.
Everyone preaches on our problems, but few advance
creative solutions. What about our human development?
With about 220 million of people, Indonesia is the
fourth biggest nation on earth. But quantity does not
always reflect quality;the nation’s rank in terms of
Human Development Index is above 100. The nation’s
agenda on human development is enormous and they must
be answered resolutely. For instance, our current
national education system is still not adequate to
equip the nation’s young generations to compete in the
21th century. And what about our economic
development? Where the country would be 10 or 15 years
from now, economically? There is a great need for a
national economic plan that will simultaneously
promote growth, provide jobs and reduce poverty.
These are only a few. The real problems facing the
country are ranging from poverty, unemployment, lack
of development, stagnation, frustration and massive
corruption and injustice. These have been for decades
which have culminated during the last five years. What
we should be discussing are bold solutions. That is
where the focus should be. There have been a few small
steps forward during the last four years of Megawati's
leadership, but nothing significant and there have
been dozens of failures, including the failure to
combat corruption and improve the fundamentals of our
economy.
Leadership is about not succumbing to frustration and
despair. It is about offering a vision and a way
forward. It is most difficult in testing times when
all the resources of character have to be summoned.
And people don't want excuses for lack of progress
from leaders. They want ideas for moving ahead.
And ideas should be the foremost quality we are
looking for from our national leader candidates.
Your
comment
Back
to top
|
The Prospect
is published by The Indonesian Institute. Our messages are
study, democracy and unity.
