Adi faults big business but insists he's no enemy
Adi faults big business but insists he's no enemy
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises
Adi Sasono on Wednesday blamed the domination of the economy by a
handful of large businesses as the primary cause of the country's
current misfortunes.
But Adi said he was not opposed to the idea of big businesses,
saying they are an essential part of his vision to develop the
economy.
He also said what he called the "people's economy" policy
would not be carried out in defiance of the market economy.
He criticized the power of large conglomerates, which in 1997
made up only 0.2 percent of the country's business population but
controlled 61 percent of gross domestic product.
"That's the core of the problem in Indonesia. It creates the
social problems," he said in a business luncheon hosted by the
Indonesian Executives Circle.
He explained that the imbalanced economic structure had
widened the gap between the rich and the poor, as the former, in
addition to controlling assets, also controlled the decision-
making process.
"From the political perspective, the imbalanced structure also
leads to vulnerable (political and social) stability. Stability
without justice... can easily break up," he said.
"So we have to broaden the economic participation of the
people," he said.
He said that one of the methods to achieve that was to boost
the role of small business cooperatives in the economy.
The government has promised to allocate Rp 10.8 trillion
(about US$1.2 billion) in heavily subsidized loans for small
businesses and cooperatives.
Adi's program is incorporated in the so-called people's
economy policy, which raised concern that the policy would
involve the forced redistribution of the assets of troubled large
companies and banks to small businesses.
The program was also criticized as racist, as most of the
large businesses are controlled by Indonesians of Chinese origin.
The foreign media has dubbed Adi the most dangerous man in
Indonesia.
"Chinese or non Chinese is obviously not an issue here," Adi
said.
"All citizens are equal according to our Constitution," he
added. "I think the problem started when the previous government
used the Chinese businesses as cash cows, granting a lot of
facilities and privileges which created resentment among the
majority," he said.
"This is one thing that we have to address, so the issue is
justice," he added.
He stressed that big businesses played an important role in
the people's economy policy.
"We need the big ones because we need the economics of scale
and world market penetration," he said, adding that working
together with big businesses was part of the condition for small
businesses to take off.
He said the government would not take the assets of the large
conglomerates, saying the policy aimed at boosting the
competitiveness of cooperatives and small businesses, by, among
other things, promoting the use of human resources.
He also said that the success of the program required the
development of an economy controlled by market forces.
"We can't promote the people's economy if we continue with
cronyism as in the past. The people's economy means we have to
democratize our economy," he said.
He added, however, that the small businesses would need
government protection as the market economy would only take off
when all players have an equal footing.
"So my task is also to establish a competitive market economy
to make distribution of economic resources more efficient," he
said.
He envisioned that increasing the living standards of the poor
majority would help prevent social unrest and riots, and would
provide a more encouraging environment for big businesses to
operate in the country.
"So I'm not a dangerous man at all. I think I'm the best
friend of the big businesses," he said.
He also dismissed criticisms that his economic policies were
merely meant to gain votes for the upcoming June general
election.
"I'll not be running for Golkar or any other political party,"
he said. (rei)