World Bank's silent collusion<\/p>\n
Dennis de Tray's response to Jeffrey Winters' comments on the
\nWorld Bank's silent collusion with their sponsor's (Soeharto's)
\ncorrupt regime, skirts Winters' challenge altogether. Failing to
\naddress Mr. Winters' points of argument, de Tray instead answers
\nan argument that Winters never made.<\/p>\n
Mr. Winters never said that the World Bank programs did no
\ngood at all in Indonesia; but this is the issue Mr. de Tray
\nhastened to debate. The problem is not that the World Bank has
\ndone nothing worthwhile. The sad point is, how much more they
\nmight have done, not only directly in development projects, but
\nindirectly, in opposing official corruption, had country
\ndirectors over the years been better stewards of the public's
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
Why didn't Mr. de Tray answer this criticism and take some
\nresponsibility, instead of evading Mr. Winters' underlying
\nargument? If the point of Mr. Winters' article has eluded Mr. de
\nTray, we may begin to understand how so much else might have
\nescaped his attention over the last years.<\/p>\n
De Tray claims that his employer, the World Bank, had taken
\nthe leading role among international organizations in warning the
\nSoeharto government of the need for reform. (For starters, this
\nis definitely faint praise). Bank officials \"warned\", they
\n\"raised the issue\" and they \"advised\". Is this leadership? In the
\ncurrent context especially, can soft, polite speech be considered
\nan appropriate exercise of leadership? If this is the World
\nBank's idea of leadership -- issuing warnings, dispensing advice,
\nraising issues -- then no wonder they find themselves US$10
\nbillion short today.<\/p>\n
Mr. Winters is correct: international organizations, and our
\nembassies, too, are in a far better position to challenge
\ncorruption and to support those who challenge it, than are local
\nfoundations, non-governmental organizations or other local
\nenterprises. Why are they doing so little on this front?<\/p>\n
Mr. de Tray now says it is impossible to collect evidence of
\ncorruption. At this point it may be, thanks to the failure of
\nthose in charge to discover and correct the administrative
\nfailures long before now. At the risk of sounding too accusatory,
\none might say: \"How convenient\". How convenient for all who
\nbenefited; they can relax secure in the knowledge that the World
\nBank will let this matter rest, and the thieves -- for that is
\nwhat they are -- will never be found out.<\/p>\n
Where were the Bank's officials when millions and billions of
\nproject dollars were disappearing? Did no one notice $10 billion
\nsneaking out the back door? Where were the World Bank's directors
\nwhen money disappeared, hundreds of dollars at a time? Did they
\nsee nothing at any level? Surely not all managers were so
\ninattentive to both small-scale and large-scale financial
\nmismanagement. Or was it that officials thought it beneath their
\ndignity to examine details, to ask for a closer accounting of
\nsmaller amounts of money. Or were they simply untrained to notice
\nthe right things; were they far more concerned with what they
\nthought to be more important: loftier responsibilities such as
\nmeeting important people, preparing eloquent public relations
\nmaterial, reviewing grand plans?<\/p>\n
Those are important functions. But someone has to \"make the
\ndonuts\" -- to do the leg work at ground level of seeing how much
\nis being spent on what, and asking whether the amounts are
\njustified. Who was ultimately responsible for these things in the
\nWorld Bank's Indonesia office, and what responsibility will those
\nindividuals bear? Mr. de Tray's plaintive recital
\nnotwithstanding, Mr. Winters' indictment of the World Bank's
\nIndonesia operations stands.<\/p>\n
DONNA K. WOODWARD<\/p>\n
Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/world-banks-silent-collusion-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }