Bali Indonesia 7/9/2025, WorldWartaGlobal. Id
Former Minister of Education, Nadien Makarim, a corruption suspect. That sentence alone is enough to make your chest tighten.
How could a minister of education—who should be a moral role model, teaching honesty, discipline, and intelligence—instead become a symbol of the decay of power?
Education, which should cultivate an honest generation, is led by a figure who fails to look after himself.
But this is the naked face of our nation. Corruption is no longer a disgrace; it has become a culture.
It grows not only in ministry buildings, but also in classrooms, in markets, and on the streets.
From the embezzlement of village development funds, to the embezzlement of schoolchildren's pocket money by small stalls using unfair methods.
Corruption is almost everywhere, like mushrooms growing in the muddy soil of bad habits.
Back in the New Order era, the minister of education's face was a symbol affixed to classroom walls. He was a teacher, even though he never taught in class.
We know Daoed Joesoef, Nugroho Notosusanto, Fuad Hassan, Wardiman Djojonegoro. They always looked dashing in suits and ties, with neatly combed hair.
We memorized these names and even secretly emulated them. Many schoolchildren at that time aspired to become ministers, as they were a symbol of honor.
Now, in the reform era, ministers' faces are more often seen on television screens, not because of their achievements, but because of their status as "suspects." The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has become the new moral judge, chasing them down one by one.
Ministers have lost their honor. Positions no longer produce role models, but rather a waiting list leading to prison.
In Bali, the list is long. Former Jembrana Regent Winasa, former Buleleng Regent Putu Bagiada, former Klungkung Regent Wayan Candra, former Tabanan Regent Eka Wiryastuti, former Bangli Regent Arnawa, and even former Karangasem Regent Sumantara—one by one, they were thrown behind bars. All during the reform era.
The reforms that were once promised as a way out of tyranny, instead opened up wide space for collective corruption.
What was once considered a disease of the New Order has now become an epidemic in the reform era.
Paradoxically, we are a nation that loves to talk about morals, yet we seem to be enjoying the feast of corruption.
We get angry briefly when we read the news, then forget. We blame officials, but quietly turn a blind eye when small acts of corruption occur around us.
We curse corrupt ministers, but casually condone the practice of schools collecting levies, donations, or fees on behalf of school committees.
As if corruption is no longer dirty, but simply an additional cost of living in this country, even considered "luck."
So, when the Minister of Education becomes a suspect, it's not just his fault. It's also a reflection of us. A reflection of a nation that has allowed education to lose its soul.
Education has been reduced to a project, a program, a statistic—no longer a struggle to develop individuals with integrity.
What is the meaning of "Freedom to Learn" if the minister is imprisoned for greed?
What's the point of a new curriculum if it's just a breeding ground for corruption?
What's the point of moral jargon if we, as a nation, are never truly honest with ourselves?
The corruption of the Minister of Education is not just a scandal; it's a tragedy.
The tragedy of a nation that fails to make education a moral bulwark and instead allows it to become a market for greedy projects.
Source: Wayan Suyadnya
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