Article August 12, 2002 Issue

My beloved Indonesia

By Djoni Darmadi

Regardless of whether a country has already reached an advanced degree of well-being or is still developing toward prosperity, it needs the prayers of its citizens. I believe that prayer makes a difference in the course and rate of a country's development.

In Indonesia, in spite of the serious efforts our government is making to lead our country out of the complicated problems it has been going through for several years now, concrete results are not yet visible, although there is some progress. A prolonged economic decline has caused severe poverty. Consequently, the number of people unemployed is constantly increasing. With higher unemployment, criminal acts such as stealing, robbing, and plundering have become common, and all too often crimes against property also include physical assaults. An increasing murder rate is bringing even more distress to the Indonesian people.