President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday painted a picture of her nation sliding towards anarchy and economic collapse, and exhorted politicians to unite to stop the drift.
But concrete proposals for fixing Indonesia's problems were not mentioned in her first progress report to the Peoples' Consultative Assembly - the upper house of Parliament - as it began its annual meeting.
As if to highlight the appearance of an elite fiddling while Rome burns, her speech took place after a 15-minute recess that had been called to stop an unprecedented brawl between assembly members, which was seen live on television across the nation.
'With serious concern and with humility but also frankness, I have to admit that there has not been much good news that I can report to you,' she said.
'We have to improve our image so that our country is not a high-risk country in relation to the political, economic and security sector.
'The Government must take firmer actions on various problems that can endanger political stability for the sake of the larger national interest.'