Indonesia is likely the worst of the nations now limping toward greater control of their own destiny. With a population of about 220 million, Indonesia, an archipelago comprising about 17,000 islands, is really going through a dangerous and physically tiring phase of its history. Three questions demand proper answers.

Will Indonesia be able to maintain its respectable position in the global arena in the near future or will it degenerate into a state providing cheap labor because of its mediocre human resources? Will the disastrous national disintegration that we have had for the past few years ever be mended by restoring our position as the world's fourth-largest nation? What should we do to rebuild optimism in an acutely pessimistic community?

Our choice is to rise as a respectable nation or remain a nation of unskilled laborers.

In the past, through a long and complicated struggle, our national movement figures, with various political and ideological backgrounds, succeeded in establishing the Indonesian nation. Prior to this, in the 19th century, many of our heroes laid down their lives in an effort to build a nation later to be called Indonesia. Many of our national heroes were exiled by the colonial ruler so that some did not live to see the free Indonesia proclaimed by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta on August 17, 1945.

What we must remember now is that all our national heroes, who fought for the freedom of this country, sincerely gave their all for the sake of a free Indonesia.

Therefore, we must now change the paradigm of our selfish way of thinking by honestly prioritizing the interests of the nation above all, now threatened by irresponsible, and short-term interests, as reflected in the political behavior of certain people, both at central and regional level.

Their attention is focused merely on the 2004 general election, and they do not care about the fate of the fatigued nation, whether it is able to survive or not. This is a very ironic tragedy and makes us breathless. And under the mantle of democracy some of us become a hidden traitor to the nation. If such behavior deteriorates, I am afraid that this nation will move toward moral and political bankruptcy. In other words, if our egoism remains and if our common sense and conscience are blinded, then the conclusion of the Dutch colonial rulers -- that Indonesians were too stupid and too primitive for higher education -- will hold water.

If we sincerely wish to refute the Dutch colonial rulers' conclusion about our nation, we must free ourselves from political sentimentality. We must give up visionless politics.

Even though official colonialism in physical and military form have been regarded as uncivilized by modern standards, colonialism in the form of neo-imperialism remains, where a weaker nation will always do whatever a stronger nation tells it to do because of the formers' great economic and military reliance on the latter.

Our self-confidence in facing international competition will depend very much on the quality of our human resources. It is no secret that, in general, due to the failure of our education, the quality of our human resources is still far below that of our competitors.

The export of Indonesian workers to several countries is an example. Some of them are successful but many also encounter serious problems, especially female workers. The number of bad experiences suffered by workers in foreign countries is uncountable; either suicide, rape, or expulsion. In certain places they are treated like slaves. How bitter is their fate!

With unemployment reaching 40 percent of the total workforce, Indonesia is being confronted by serious problems. It is estimated that by 2020 Indonesia's population will have reached 250 million people, mostly in Java, a very densely populated island with a population density of 755 people per square- kilometer in 1987. If everything runs normally, our population will reach stasis at 350 million people in 2050.

The urgent question is: If our amoral mentality remains unchanged, can this nation survive as a nation until 2050?. The question is very crucial to me, and can only be answered by concrete action and a convincing change of attitude, not by illusive political rhetoric.

The imbalance in the distribution of population between Java and the outer islands gets very scant attention from politicians. Our future is much determined by our ability to handle population problems, which often cause vulnerability and have a serious impact on the nation's socioeconomic future.

We must admit that our statesmanlike vision in preparing the future is still too weak in this area. Although we have been a free nation for 57 years, a semi-feudalistic culture and an authoritarian political system are still with us. The habit of waiting for an instruction from a superior has stunted our creativity in decision making. As a result, it is very difficult to introduce really fresh blood into our state leadership -- nationally or locally.

The leaders we need now are those who can do their best to maintain the existence of this nation but not those who are fond of money politics. The implementation of regional autonomy since January 2001 has shown us that questionable practices based on money politics are still widespread.

We are seeking a leader who is capable of doing his or her best to maintain the existence of a united nation with dignity, and not a person who likes to indulge in money politics. Such behavior has ruined our image as a principled and civilized nation.

With the implementation of regional autonomy since January 2001 we hoped that our situation would improve. However, dirty politics became more widespread and caused great suffering for the sick nation.

Once I had a talk with Dutch envoy Baron Schelto van Heemstra. He gave me some consolation, saying, "as long it was not too late, Indonesia could overcome its crisis, but this is conditional on the termination of all kinds of corruption." I agreed with him.

Therefore it is our duty to jointly stage jihad against corruption, although it will be very tiring because jihad requires our preparedness to work hard to achieve our noble goal. There is no other way to ensure a good and respectable future of the nation except to fully eradicate corruption. At this juncture, the government's political will is very much needed.

As a Muslim who lives in a predominantly Muslim country, I can no longer bear the shame of seeing my country labeled the most corrupt nation in Asia, although the corrupt are not just Muslims. If only there were a greater correlation between the number of those who have performed the haj pilgrimage and the improvement of the morals and ethics of the nation!

At this point we must all confess our collective sins to God the Almighty. This confession is necessary as a purgative. Afterwards we can mend the cracks in our national unity and then concentrate on educational improvement. For our long-term goals, education is pivotal, for without a complete overhaul of our education, we, again, will become only a nation of unskilled laborers.

We are in a bad state but are still better than some African countries. We still have our considerable natural resources as our assets. At this juncture, we must remember that as a nation we have been saved by the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), not by large businesses enjoying facilities from the government. Consequently, our SMEs must be beefed up so that they can make use of our natural resources efficiently and profitably.

We appeal to the MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) to be sincere and honest in amending the Constitution, that the amendment is not based on the short-term interests of certain groups or parties.Ignorance in handling these fundamental problems will have a long-term impact on the future and character of the nation. At this point it is also necessary to consider the establishment of a commission on the Constitution. Amendment of the 1945 Constitution requires true statesmanship.

It must be remembered that the amendment of the Constitution must, on no account, be linked to any narrow interests related to the 2004 general election. Take, for example, the direct election of the president and vice president. An MPR stipulation on this matter could be implemented in the 2004 general election but it must also be followed by another MPR stipulation on the direct election of governors, regents and municipality heads. Only in this way can we build a responsible democracy that reflects the people's sovereignty in its true sense.

Then the political parties. Many of them pursuing factious approaches for some easily guessed reasons should therefore realize that their approach will only ruin democracy and court anarchy.

* The article is an excerpt taken from Ahmad Syafii Maarif's speech in a seminar held by The Right Path Movement Forum (Forum Jalan Lurus) on May 20, 2002.