CGI creditors must now lend an ear the poor<\/p>\n
H.S. Dillon, Observer, Economic Devepment Issues, Jakarta<\/p>\n
This Wednesday morning a group of well-intentioned donors is
\nscheduled to sit down with our politicians and bureaucrats to
\ndiscuss the size of the loans we will get next year. Figures have
\nbeen bandied around for some time, and it is safe to expect that
\nthe final sum will not fall too far from these well-informed
\nestimates.<\/p>\n
At the meeting with the Consultative Group on Indonesia, most
\nof our ministers will read statements written for them, and will
\nsay that they have only been in their jobs for just over a 100
\ndays. More than one will plead -- do not hold us accountable for
\nthe mess we have inherited, give us more time.<\/p>\n
No doubt there are a handful of ministers with integrity and a
\nhigh sense of commitment to fostering democracy in the current
\ncabinet. But their fellow ministers who were junior bureaucrats
\nunder Soeharto seem to be intent on turning the clock back.
\nCentralistic and statist, they are once again pushing for top-
\ndown, one-size-fits-all, Jakarta-knows-best solutions.<\/p>\n
It is important to place the current predicament in context.
\nFirst, the crisis was caused by widespread greed and complacency.
\nSecond, attempts to solve the crisis further exacerbated poverty.
\nIt landed Indonesia with a weak and wobbly exchange rate,
\nbankrupt banks, hollow conglomerates and left the government with
\na mountain of debt.<\/p>\n
Rather than keep spending to keep basic services intact and
\nensure that the poor are protected, our government cuts back on
\npublic services, decentralizes and tells the regencies to do the
\nbest they can -- in other words, central government issues them a
\nlicense to beg, borrow, steal, and cheat.<\/p>\n
The donor group discussion will center around what appears to
\nbe urgent, and sadly what is really important will get short
\nshrift. Although the theme is \"Working together to reduce
\npoverty\" one fears that the return to \"strong and commanding
\ncentral government\" will inspire the bureaucrats to start working
\nseparately to rebuild their fiefdoms.<\/p>\n
Earlier attempts to focus the debate during the donor
\nconsultations on important policies and institutions, which would
\nenable the poor to climb out of poverty, suggests that the
\ngovernment has returned to its narrow concept of poverty,
\nreminiscent of the way the topic was treated during Soeharto's
\nfading rule. Those underlings who have assumed Soeharto's mantle
\nwill follow their hero's role as Bapak Pembangunan, the \"father
\nof development\" who alone knew what was best for his people.<\/p>\n
Certainly they do not need civil society to tell them what to
\ndo -- they know all that needs to be known about the poor and
\npoverty reduction. They are confident. They have all the answers.<\/p>\n
Nobody refutes that the centralistic bureaucracy can get the
\ntrains moving on time. Strong central government, backed by a
\nstrong and confident military, is an excellent extractive and
\nrights-repressing machine. The chain of command is clear, and the
\njob of the civil servant is to execute orders.<\/p>\n
However, the lessons of the past clearly point out that it is
\nexactly this concentration of authority that is most easily
\ncorrupted, and ultimately exposes our nation to tremendous
\nvulnerability.<\/p>\n
A strong, commanding central government does serve some
\ninterest groups well. If one wants to subjugate the poor and weak
\n-- especially if you think of them as the \"floating mass\" -- then
\nthey can be side-stepped while government forms tight alliances
\nwith the cronies and their influence peddlers to quietly fleece
\nwhatever is left in the budget for their own ends.<\/p>\n
In such a system -- as Soeharto learned far too late -- just
\nabout everyone is voice-less, and therein lies the frustration.
\nAs long as the population is docile, remains uneducated,
\nuninterested, and uninvolved, than such a system can last.<\/p>\n
But if, indeed, the population remains uninvolved and
\nfrustrated, than surely the economy cannot advance very far, and
\npolitics will remain contentious and increasingly divorced from
\nwhat is needed to restore durable progress.<\/p>\n
At this annual ritual, the honorable and distinguished
\ndiplomats and ministers will not come to a scuffle, unlike their
\ncounterparts performing another annual ritual in Senayan. They
\nwill also posture, though, and sound tough in their well-prepared
\nstatements.<\/p>\n
But everyone knows that the donors want the current
\nadministration to survive and keep the radicals at bay in the
\npost Sept. 11 global geo-political configuration. So, in the end,
\nthe distinguished representatives of donor countries and
\ninternational foreign investors will nod wisely and concede that
\nthe new ministers are doing the best they can under very
\ndifficult circumstances.<\/p>\n
They'll pat each other on the back, reminiscing how they had
\nreminded the ministers of the government's unwavering commitment
\nto poverty reduction expressed in Tokyo last year. The ministers,
\non their part, will be congratulating themselves on the new
\nlending commitment that they have managed to secure, adding
\nanother layer to the mountain of debt that their successors must
\nrepay.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the diplomats, bankers, politicians, and bureaucrats
\nwill all be happy at the end of the day. They will have mapped
\nout the solution to poverty without having to bother about
\ninvolving the poor.<\/p>\n
For those who depart the Consultative Group meetings with a
\nsense of mission accomplished, it is worth remembering that
\npersistent poverty breeds despair, and that ultimately despair
\ngives birth to radicalism.<\/p>\n
Therefore, in our present context, it is even more important
\nto recognize the links between poverty reduction and transitional
\njustice to solve the overhang of past problems, in a way that
\naddresses the issue head-on -- they who have caused the mess
\nshould be made to pay, irrespective of what the legal pundits
\nconclude.<\/p>\n
Our bureaucracy -- including civil servants, police,
\nprosecutors, and judges -- have presided over the biggest rip-off
\nin our history, and have done so in the guise of trying to solve
\nthe economic crisis to help the poor.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, it is time to ask those responsible for this economic
\nmayhem to make amends, and this includes the conglomerates,
\nmultinationals, foreign investors and politicians who have so
\neffortlessly teamed-up to loot the state.<\/p>\n
Ultimately democracy is the best guarantee that justice will
\nprevail. If we want to be respected as a people, it is time to
\nmove beyond rhetoric and continue to advance democracy, in ways
\nthat open decision-making and foster public debate.<\/p>\n
Learning to listen might well pose the greatest challenge to
\nthe current administration.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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