Crisis and expats<\/p>\n
After reading the Sunday edition of The Jakarta Post I was
\nrelieved to learn that somebody has finally discovered who is
\nresponsible for recent problems in the Indonesian economy. The
\nexpatriate workers, of course. Now we know that there were 50,000
\nof them in December 1997 and that they cost the economy US$3
\nbillion per annum. Now that draining of precious U.S. dollars
\nthrough this channel has stopped (there are only some 15,000 of
\nthem left, mostly on rupiah salaries), we can concentrate on the
\nobvious next steps, expensive imported equipment and machinery
\nincluding aircraft, computers and others of this kind. This stuff
\nprobably costs the economy even more than expats. Why import a
\nstate of the art machine when we can work with good old steam
\nengines. So when we put a plug on this useless spending, we can
\nmove on to... electricity. We cannot talk about cost and not
\nmention this item. And since we already dumped the equipment, who
\nneeds it anyway. Now it's a good moment to step back a bit and
\nlay off all local consultants, too. They do cost only seven
\nmillion a month, but imagine how many Rp 300,000 jobs that will
\nopen...<\/p>\n
Do I need to go on with this logic or have you already got my
\nmessage? We need to relate production costs to profit achieved.
\nOnly this way can we say that something (or somebody) is
\nexpensive. A horse eats a lot. But having a horse is expensive
\nonly if the horse is not productively utilized. And even then
\ndon't blame the horse. Blame the owner.<\/p>\n
To illustrate my argument, please ask Mr. Zatni Arbi why he
\ninsists on buying expensive foreign computer magazines (The
\nJakarta Post, Sunday, Feb. 15, page 1) when he can have much,
\nmuch cheaper local ones.<\/p>\n
To further illustrate my argument, please find one \"local
\nconsultant\", or anybody else, who has actually got a raise in pay
\nor benefited in any other way from 32,000 expat layoffs.<\/p>\n
BRANIMIR SALEVIC<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/crisis-and-expats-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }