A call for greater sensitivity

A call for greater sensitivity

Like Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea have also been hit by
the economic crisis. As we know, however, here the crisis has hit
harder because it was accompanied by disturbances on the
political plane. It is thus understandable that expectations for
an economic revival have been dimmer in this country than in
Bangkok or Seoul.

This double crisis is the reason why no clear distinction can
be made between the kinds of efforts that have to be made in
order to restore healthy conditions in both the economic and
political fields in this country. In the Bank Bali case, for
example, the political aspect of the scandal is just as serious
as that of the purely technical banking one. We therefore hope
that those in charge of the case will handle the case with
honesty and prudence.

We are still highly dependent on foreign loans and investment,
but if the current situation continues the money will never come
flowing in in adequate amounts and an overall revival of our
economy cannot be expected for at least another five years.

We hope the elite in our society will have enough conscience
to heed the suffering that the economic and political crises are
causing to our people at present. Tens of millions of people of
productive ages are jobless. More than five million children have
been compelled to drop out of school. The number of people who
are living below the poverty line continues to grow. All those
people want an end to their sufferings.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta