Winters, critic who loves RI<\/p>\n
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Shocking statements often shake the political scene in
\nIndonesia, but coming from Jeffrey A. Winters, they can be
\npowerful indeed.<\/p>\n
The Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University
\nin Chicago, is a staunch critic of the World Bank and the
\nInternational Monetary Fund (IMF). Both, Winters said, were
\nsusceptible to America's interests.<\/p>\n
His comments have given Indonesians a look at the other side
\nof America's foreign policy. The unofficial side, that is.<\/p>\n
\"If Indonesia becomes a banana republic, or 50 years from now
\nturns into a country of coolies, America (government) couldn't
\ncare less as long as Indonesia doesn't make trouble,\" he said
\nlast week.<\/p>\n
Lately, trouble has meant the rise of Islamic groups with
\nlinks to terrorism here, he said. Before, it was the possible
\nrise of communism.<\/p>\n
In between, there appeared to be no particular ideological
\nreason for the U.S. government to develop an interest in
\nIndonesia. As Winters said in a 1999 seminar in Yogyakarta, it
\nfaded with the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n
Yet, Indonesia nearly became a troublemaker of a different
\nsort when in 1998 President Soeharto's downfall shocked the power
\nestablishment and put general stability at risk throughout the
\nSoutheast Asian region.<\/p>\n
He said talks with several U.S. officials six to eight months
\nbefore Soeharto quit in May 1998, showed that the U.S. was paying
\nlittle attention to the growing political tension in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
It just watched the events unfold, he said in the 1999 seminar
\nas quoted by the local magazine Tokoh. American ideologues, he
\nsaid were likely surprised and disappointed that General Prabowo
\nSubianto failed to take over Soeharto's post. Analysts believed
\nthat Soeharto had been grooming Prabowo to become his successor.<\/p>\n
Prabowo is Soeharto's son-in-law who received high level
\nmilitary training in the U.S. But here, speculation abounds that
\nhis expertise was put to use in the kidnapping of several
\nactivists campaigning for political reforms in 1998. \"So much
\npower and so little responsibility,\" Winters said of his
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
His criticism of America's foreign policy, however, pales in
\ncomparison to his admonitions which target the IMF and the World
\nBank.<\/p>\n
In an analysis of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, he attacked
\nthe IMF for prescribing the same medicine to different countries
\nsuffering from different economic illnesses.<\/p>\n
Winters however dropped his biggest bombshell on the World
\nBank.<\/p>\n
Following some research on the World Bank policies, he found
\nthat the bank may have known that 30 percent of its loans were
\nbeing misused by the country. The loss, he estimated, amounted to
\nsome US$10 billion over the 30 years under Soeharto.<\/p>\n
His assault against the World Bank made him an instant hero
\nwith the Indonesian media in 1998. But senior World Bank
\nofficials were outraged.<\/p>\n
Then World Bank country director Dennis de Tray denied the
\ncharges and only backed down a year later after an internal memo
\nof the bank said fund leakages did occur and estimated them to
\nhave been more than 20 percent.<\/p>\n
Winters asks for the World Bank to be accountable, calling it
\nunfair to Indonesians to have to pay back all of the loans the
\nbank knew was being siphoned off by corruptors.<\/p>\n
For Indonesians, however, the message is that neither the IMF
\nnor the World Bank are angels.<\/p>\n
The message itself is old. But Winters stands out against the
\nus-vs-them attitude often displayed by most Indonesian critics
\nwhose credibility is tainted by a hefty dose of anti-foreigner
\nsentiment rather than sound reasoning.<\/p>\n
So how did Winters turn into the critic that he is today?<\/p>\n
He is an Indonesianist, teaching political science at
\nNorthwestern University. Winters researched comparative political
\neconomy, business-government relations under capitalism,
\ninternational capital flows and the politics of post-colonial
\nstates. He specializes in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
His 1996 book Power in Motion: Capital Mobility and the
\nIndonesian State shed light on the relation between power and
\ncapital flow from the 1970s to the early 1990s in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
When the 1997 financial crisis broke out, he was already in
\nthe know about the region's cause and effect in capital movement.<\/p>\n
He pointed out how a herd mentality had set in amongst
\ninvestors driving their capital into Asian countries as they
\nfollowed others' lead. Sound economic fundamentals were of minor
\nconcern against the belief that security was to be found where
\nothers had their money.<\/p>\n
Once the crisis struck, the same mentality drained capital out
\nof countries. In Winters' opinion, the situation turned worse
\nafter the IMF came to the rescue with its billions of US$ aid
\npackages.<\/p>\n
IMF attached conditions to its loans that proved detrimental
\nto Indonesia's economy. Its requirement to raise Bank Indonesia
\nbenchmark rates failed to stop the foreign capital flight while
\nit squashed businesses here which took up debts from local banks.
\nThe result is no money and a devastated domestic economy.<\/p>\n
Winters spent several years in Indonesia. He was a teacher at
\nthe University of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta. Fluent in Bahasa
\nIndonesia, he is also a frequent visitor to this country.<\/p>\n
That does not stop him from taking a swipe against the
\ngovernment even though it has invited trouble with the local
\nauthorities.<\/p>\n
In 1998 Winters charged then coordinating minister for the
\neconomy, Ginandjar Kartasasmita of corrupt practices he said
\ninvolved the U.S.-based copper and gold mining company PT
\nFreeport Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Then president B.J. Habibie instead of trying to refute the
\nclaim, went after Winters, accusing him of insulting his
\nminister.<\/p>\n
Then Justice Minister Muladi said the insult could have been
\ngrounds to put him in jail for up to five years.<\/p>\n
Winters' misadventure in Yogyakarta, where three male students
\ncharged him of sexual harassment and beat him up, also brought up
\nquestions about his sexual orientation.<\/p>\n
But jail threats and the one or two bruises he sustained, do
\nnot lessen his affection for the country.<\/p>\n
One point that Winters often makes is that Indonesians should
\nnot to confuse the American people with the government or its
\nforeign policy.<\/p>",
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