Al Gore: A message for Indonesian students?<\/p>\n
By David DeRosa<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (Bloomberg): Vice President Al Gore's controversial
\nKuala Lumpur speech last week on democracy and political freedom
\nhas Malaysia's powers that be doing back flips.<\/p>\n
The latest reaction was from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
\nwho summoned the U.S. ambassador Monday to give him a piece of
\nhis mind. One by one, Malaysians loyal to Mahathir have lined up
\nto express their revulsion at Gore's remarks.<\/p>\n
It wasn't just Malaysian officials who took offense. Take
\nRichard Holwill, director of international affairs for direct
\nseller Amway Corp., who said Nov. 17, \"The American business
\ncommunity wishes, I believe, to apologize for the very poor
\nmanners of the vice president.\" Well, who elected Amway to speak
\nfor the American business community?<\/p>\n
Some other business leaders were quick to jump on Gore. We
\nwere \"mortified\" said Kate Clemens, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-
\nASEAN Business Council, whose members include General Electric
\nCo. and American International Group.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, all this leaves investors with an even more clouded
\npicture of Asia. Political risk now dominates financial risk, as
\nin the case of Indonesia. Malaysia may be the next place for a
\nrevolution if anything further untoward happens to former Deputy
\nPrime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir's jailed political rival.<\/p>\n
Put away the small, self-interested reactions and fake
\noutrage. Something quite remarkable has happened. For decades,
\nthe U.S. has been taken to task for supporting third-world
\ntotalitarian regimes for purposes of political expediency.<\/p>\n
Actually, the American record is mixed. The U.S. supported the
\nlate Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos for many years but then
\nengineered his removal in favor of democracy.<\/p>\n
The same thing happened with ex-dictator Manuel Noriega, who
\nformer U.S. President Jimmy Carter accused of stealing a
\nPanamanian presidential election. Noriega is now incarcerated in
\nthe U.S. following his 1992 conviction for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
The U.S. has certainly given convenient support from time to
\ntime for friendly dictators but there are a great many cases
\nwhere it called for and supported democratic freedom movements.<\/p>\n
So Gore's remarkable speech isn't really so much a change of
\ncourse as it is a declaration of renewal of American commitment.
\nIt was a good speech -- maybe the best of his lifetime. It took
\ncourage to deliver it right into Mahathir's face.<\/p>\n
In a way, the speech was in the style of John F. Kennedy,
\nalthough it falls a little short of the ringing words of JFK's
\ninaugural address: \"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
\nwell or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet
\nany hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the
\nsurvival and success of liberty.\"<\/p>\n
The question is what does Gore's speech tell the rest of Asia,
\nIndonesia in particular. The most famous line of the address is:
\n\"We continue to hear calls for democracy, calls for `reformasi.'
\nWe hear them today -- right here, right now -- among the brave
\npeople of Malaysia.\"<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, Indonesia, the fourth-most populous
\ncountry in the world, is literally imploding under political and
\neconomic pressure. Students are rioting in the streets and the
\narmy is killing them. And what do the demonstrators want? They
\nare demanding a free, democratic election. They want President
\nB.J. Habibie, the appointed successor of former President
\nSoeharto (and his adopted son), to step down.<\/p>\n
The Indonesians also want Soeharto investigated for abuses of
\npower in the course of his 32-year term as president.<\/p>\n
The government is showing some signs of cracking. Two of
\nSoeharto's children are under investigation. His son Tommy can't
\nleave the country and daughter Tutut is being questioned on
\nsuspicion of corruption. It seems she personally owned a
\nconsiderable portion of the national toll-highway system. The
\ntrump card is the old man himself. You'll know Habibie is really
\nfeeling the heat if he hands Soeharto over for prosecution.<\/p>\n
That leads me back to Gore's speech. Noble sentiments are fine
\nthough they don't mean anything unless backed up by action. If
\nthe Clinton administration is really supportive of the reformasi
\nmovement, then what is it doing voting for massive aid for
\nIndonesia from the International Monetary Fund? How can Gore
\nmaintain we are with the reformasi when we are propping up
\nHabibie with billions of dollars of IMF bailout money?<\/p>\n
The writer is president of DeRosa Research and Trading and an
\nAdjunct Finance Professor at Yale School of Management. The
\nopinions expressed here are his own and don't necessarily
\nrepresent the judgment of Bloomberg LP or Bloomberg News.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/al-gore-a-message-for-indonesian-students-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}