Last chance for economy<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri is quite right in her urgent
\nappeal to the leaders of political and social organizations, as
\nwell as the whole population, to maintain self-restraint in
\nexercising their democratic rights, otherwise the country would
\nappear to be in chaos and be shunned by the international
\ncommunity.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Annual Session of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly on Thursday, Megawati sadly noted that domestic and
\nforeign investment had virtually come to a halt because the
\ncountry was perceived to be highly unstable and fragile, with
\nhigh economic, political and security risks.<\/p>\n
She is again quite correct in selecting strong and sustainable
\neconomic recovery as the government's top priority. Indeed, the
\nmulti-dimensional crisis that has gripped the nation since mid-
\n1997 started out as a financial debacle, which immediately
\ndamaged the whole economy and later destroyed the public's trust
\nin the then political system developed by the Soeharto
\nadministration. Hence, it was primarily the economic crisis, not
\npro-democracy street demonstrations, that brought Soeharto down
\nfrom his more than three decades of authoritarian rule.<\/p>\n
But as the crisis is now entering its fifth year and after the
\ngovernment has spent the equivalent of hundreds of billions of
\ndollars in taxpayers' money to repair the damage, things are not
\nmuch better. The overall condition has instead become much worse,
\nwith the government already on the verge of bankruptcy under
\nmountains of domestic and foreign debts, many productive assets
\nremaining idle due to security risks or a lack of liquidity, and
\nthe huge number of unemployed people steadily increasing as more
\nenterprises stop operations because of depressed market demand.<\/p>\n
Why is our condition still much worse than Thailand, South
\nKorea, Malaysia and the Philippines, which were hit by similar
\neconomic crises in 1997 but are now experiencing sustainable
\nrecoveries on the back of reforms that are largely similar to the
\nones Indonesia has formulated?<\/p>\n
The answer lies in the sense of urgency in coping with the
\ncrisis. While the other crisis-ridden countries acted immediately
\nand firmly by mobilizing all their political, social and economic
\nresources to attack their economic woes, Indonesia has been
\nembroiled in political bickering and scapegoating.<\/p>\n
Even though our condition is much more complex than the other
\ncountries in that we are learning democratic principles in the
\nmiddle of an economic crisis, we could have done much better had
\nthe government and all political and social organizations put
\naside their respective agenda and interests, and united in
\nmanaging the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
It is therefore most imperative now that the government and
\nthe House of Representatives fully unite in pushing through all
\nthe reform measures, notably asset recovery, corporate debt
\nrestructuring and privatization programs, which are vital to
\nreturning the economy to a path of sustainable recovery. Without
\nsignificant progress in these programs, the recapitalized banks
\nwill remain as crippled as they are now. Without a sound
\nfinancial system the economy will never be able to resume
\nsustainable recovery.<\/p>\n
The House should do away with its misguided nationalistic
\nsentiment regarding what reforms would bring our economy under
\nforeign domination. The blunt fact is that we are now in such a
\ndire condition that we will never be able to rebuild our economy
\nwithout a heavy dose of foreign capital. And we should not forget
\nthat foreign capital also brings higher standards of
\naccountability, transparency and corporate governance, which are
\nalso key prerequisites to supporting a strong economic recovery.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, we should also remember that it was
\ncorruption, collusion and miserably low standards of
\naccountability within the public and private sectors that were
\nprimarily responsible for destroying the foundations of our
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
This is our last chance to repair the economy. If we are not
\nable to stabilize our economy and restore it to a path of
\nrecovery during the current Megawati administration, we will not
\nbe able to conduct a peaceful succession of government in 2004.
\nWorse still, the people, so frustrated with their prolonged
\nsuffering, may completely lose trust in the rule of law and the
\ndemocratization process.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/last-chance-for-economy-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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