In Reply to: Relaxed posted by Muthaduk on Wednesday, 5. October 2005 at 19:23 Bali Time:
Hi Muthaduk.
You weren't adding fuel to the fire, but only stating the truth. A lot of people on this, and other forums are not very comfortable with the truth when it does not support their point of view. Maybe they should remember the number of Royal Commissions and investigations into State Police Forces, Magistrates,Judges, local councils and the like in Australia.
It is easy to point the finger at Bali and make a sweeping statement that every official is corrupt.
What these people also tend to ignore, either by convenience or ignorance is that since independence Idonesia and Indonesians have lived under corrupt leaders who made this corruption a normal part of how the country operated. Most people had no choice but to make the most of the situation if they wanted to live and conduct a business.
This was also the case with foriegn multi-national companies who wanted to operate in Indonesia. They had to grease the palms of the right people( up to and including the president and most of his family)
This institutionalised corruption will obviously take time to weed out. Hopefully the new President appears to be attempting to take action, but only time will tell.
Just to close People in Glass Houses.....etc
Gary