Local Governance Quotes
Not all kings were uncaring aristocrats and a few were excellent, compassionate, rulers. Most were not however.
There was huge pressure on the central government to decentralize as they held all the power in Indonesian society. However, if they devolved power to the Provinces (States), many of them could be large enough and independent enough to secede and become an independent country as East Timor had done. So the Indonesian power structure bypassed the Provincial governments and devolved power directly to the local governments, none of which was independent enough to go it alone. The desired objective was met—no more secessions. However, there was no one to worry about regional and national issues and problems as the politicians who had power were all local. The country was becoming non-functional in many ways.
What makes this quotation memorable is that fact that it was public stated. Presidents have almost never gone into a local area and publicly stated that one of its governmental institutions was corrupt. Moreover, the corruption had not only gone on with the laxity of the state and city officials who had been Republicans and of the President’s own party—Democrats. The speech was, surprisingly to some, very warmly received by a public and political audience who had known of the corruption for years, but finally someone was trying to do something about it.
