Schoolchildren should be taught how to form proper queues and how to wait their turn, according to a senior minister in a report to President Suharto.
Sudarman Susillo, co-ordinating minister for political affairs and security, said Indonesians had never learned to queue because they had been colonised by the Dutch rather than the British. This had left a deficiency in the national character.
“Look at Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. People queue there because they were colonised by British gentlemen,” Mr Susillo told the Jakarta Post. “In contrast, we were colonised by a bunch of traders.”
Mr Susillo pointed to a recent situation where people had been kicking and shoving in queues at railway and bus stations during the exodus from big cities to their home villages for a festival.
He said he had proposed a number of programmes to President Suharto for the launching of a National Discipline Movement scheduled for May 20, the day Indonesia marks its National Awakening Day.
Apart from seeking improvements in Indonesians’ standard of queuing, Mr Susillo’s report says that parents and pupils should be more aware of the need to turn up for work and school at the scheduled time.
