9949Darren asked, in my comments, "
Where else in this world will you find a president asking the people to call him? A good image no doubt.. but nobody foresaw the system crash?"
Where else indeed? Such naivety!
Apparently,
SBY blurted it out by mistake.
Even before the advent of modern technology, since the time of president Soeharto, similar channels for complaint existed with the introduction of a special post office box.However, unlike his predecessors, Susilo's offer was ill-prepared. The President was under pressure to deliver by an audience who had been invited, in a moment of public relations grandstanding, to call him to report officials' misconduct.Ignoring the fact that some 50% of the population doesn't have ready access to any phone, let alone a hand phone, there is now a system to receive text messages in place backed up with
a computer ... operated by a team of seven people. So, that's all right then.
Or is it? Jakartass is operated by a team of one - me.
I don't rely on text messages, not having, and not wanting, a handphone. I read the
Jakarta Post and have other sources of information, like 'Er Indoors, to bring you what's hot (and what is not).
You may want to know that there are now
47 polio cases and umpteen cases of
children dying from malnutrition.
It does seem to be time for SBY to demonstrate real leadership. He has the information; what seems to be somewhat out of touch with the 'common' people. Text messaging is not the answer, although having electoral feedback unencumbered by the bureaucracy is essential.
Perhaps he should start blogging, or a website offering feedback, which is something
now offered by the Post.
Your views are very important to us in making TheJakartaPost.com the best site on the Web. We welcome suggestions and feedback on our website. Speak your mind about current Indonesian topics of the day. Your letters may be posted on our bulletin board.
This being Indonesia, it would appear that the Post doesn't actually have a bulletin board yet. I'll let you know how long it takes to get the answer to my inquiry about its URL. Hopefully they'll get back to me quicker than SBY could.
9.30 UpdateThe
SEND button doesn't seem to function on the JP page!
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