THE SOUND OF SILENCE
By N Mark Castro
OPTION I (ACTION)
The President’s Address via Presidential Spokesperson Julian Aldrin Pasha
Today, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its 665-page World Report 2013 citing the Republic of Indonesia’s failure to defend our minority groups. We are of the assumption that this has been made available to the rest of the world and that most of us have read the headline news in today’s newspapers.
The president has called on all Cabinet Ministers for an Extraordinary Meeting and will convene at 3PM this afternoon. The president wishes to convey that this isn’t a knee-jerk reaction but rather a verification between the data gathered Human Rights Watch (HRW), its source Setara Institute, and our own ministries and agencies. Further, the president plans to address this issue once and for all, to enhance current protocols, to assess current results, and create the necessary action plan in improving government efforts.
However, regardless of the findings that the meeting will yield, the president wishes to convey that this nation, our country, will always be committed to the spirit by which our forefathers have fought for our freedom … UNITY IN DIVERSITY (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika) and that all our laws, all our governing ministries and agencies, will act accordingly to ensure that our country’s motto is fully implemented.
The president will address the nation and the media after the Extraordinary Meeting this afternoon and will respond to the issue at hand.
Thank you.
OPTION II (PRESENTED ACTION)
Today, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its 665-page World Report 2013 citing the Republic of Indonesia’s failure to defend our minority groups. We are of the assumption that this has been made available to the rest of the world and that most of us have read the headline news in today’s newspapers.
I have yet to meet the president to discuss this issue but, from what I’ve heard in the Palace, all ministries and agencies have been admonished to verify the data gathered by Human Rights Watch (HRW), its source Setara Institute, and compare it with our own statistics. Whatever information is derived, I am certain that this will be addressed to enhance existing protocols, to assess current results, and create the necessary action plan in improving government efforts.
Insofar as I know, the president will always be committed to the spirit by which our forefathers have fought for our freedom … UNITY IN DIVERSITY (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika) and that all our laws, all our governing ministries and agencies, will act accordingly to ensure that our country’s motto is fully implemented.
We will get back to you as soon as I have convened with the president and, perhaps, address the media later on.
Thank you.
Any of the two options would have yielded effective results that would protect the president from:
1. Inaction
2. Indecisiveness
3. Weakness
2. Indecisiveness
3. Weakness
An impression reinforced regularly by current news that mistake the president’s cautiousness for weakness. As such, it is imperative that the presidential spokesperson — usually a veteran spinmeister — would do well to protect his client and / or, in this case, his boss.
Instead, amidst the persistent calls of media for an official statement on the results of New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) release of its 665-page World Report 2013, citing the Republic of Indonesia’s failure to defend minority groups, at a time when the entire known world is waiting for an immediate statement to address the issue, as the entire country reflects upon the unity by which this nation is founded on, when minority groups seek guidance and assistance from the government, no, the president, the Presidential Spokesperson Julian Aldrin Pasha — nor his office — did what no one else thought he would.
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