Hope you all have had a great week

These past few weeks I have noticed a number of articles about adults and children with health problems and little or no means of getting treatment.  Access to adequate health care should be a basic right of a citizen. 

When a government fails to provide such support for its people then it is failing in a fundamental way.  Governments are formed by people for the purpose of helping us work together for mutual benefit.  Since the dawn of time we have grouped together to provide security and support for each other, and its seems that in many respects Indonesia is failing to provide even these most basic of functions.

Indonesia is a country filled with huge natural resources, and large numbers of people.  This has unfortunately lead to a large number of people trying to annex the countries resources for their own benefit.  Almost inevitably this has lead to a system rife with corruption, deception and theft. 

When the people of nation decide that their own needs outweigh those of the nation as a whole, they start to undermine the very system which they seek to profit from, and they do so at the expense of those in the greatest need.  When as system tries to fight corruption it invariably starts by trying to improve security. 

Ironically this increased red tape makes it harder for those who need support to get it, and increases the opportunity for corruption, in an ever more complex and unresponsive system.  These factors combine to make those in need even more desperate, and those with power even more willing to exploit this desperation for their own means.

It would be very easy for me to sit here and complain about the government.  However at some point we must all realise that it is OUR government, which we have for our own good.  The problem here is not just that the government is doing a poor job, but that it is having to fight us to do it.  If we want a system which provides for us when we are in need, we must stop tolerating people who exploit the system when they are not.

Good healthcare should not be just the right of the rich.  It is the most basic right of any human being and we all deserve it.

Editor,
M Holland