Air Force One?

Air Force One?

Some three years after the Asian economic crisis first hit
this country around the middle of 1997, Indonesians can now
rightfully say that things appear to have started to look up a
little.

Underlining the optimism, the country's central bank, Bank
Indonesia, on Wednesday said the country's gross domestic product
(GDP) growth for the year could reach 3 percent to 4 percent, or
even higher.

"In general," the bank's statement said, "the board of
governors is of the opinion that the macroeconomic indicators
reveal quite substantial positive developments up to August 2000.
The economic recovery is continuing and economic activity is
growing." The statement cites a string of indicators in support
of its optimistic assessment of the country's economy.

Encouraged perhaps by such optimism, it seems that the
government considers it time for Indonesia to start looking to
buy an aircraft for the exclusive use of its President.

"In foreign countries, it is common that a president has his
own presidential plane, like the U.S. president, who travels on
Air Force One," presidential palace protocol chief Wahyu Muryadi
told reporters traveling in the President's entourage to the
United Nations Millennium Summit in New York this week.

The purchase of such an aircraft, Wahyu argues, would ease
demands on Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier, whose planes
the President uses at present for his frequent international
trips and which must adjust its flight schedules every time the
President travels.

Boeing has offered a B737-800 aircraft at a cost of around
US$50 million to $60 million for purchase by the Indonesian
government. That is why the President, before traveling on to New
York, met with the chairman of Boeing, Phil Condit, during a
refueling stop in Seattle.

To a certain extent, of course, Wahyu's argument is valid
enough. In the 11 months that he has been in office, President
Abdurrahman Wahid has traveled to more countries than any of his
predecessors have in the entire span of their often decades-long
tenure. It is also true that when not in use by the President,
the aircraft could be lent to Garuda or chartered out to others.

What has been left out of the argument is that Indonesia's
economy is still far from full recovery. In fact, of all the
countries affected by the Asian economic crisis, this country is
not only the worst hit, it also remains the farthest away from
full recovery.

With a total foreign debt burden of US$150 billion -- $85
billion in government debt and $65 billion in private debt --
still outstanding, it will probably take a few generations of
Indonesians to repay their financial obligations. Compare that,
say, to Malaysia's $6 billion in foreign debt and the seriousness
of the Indonesian situation will become immediately apparent.

In addition, a host of tasks that require immediate attention
-- from bank restructuring to establishing clean governance --
still have to be accomplished. Though it may be true that the
indicators are promising, this is not yet the time to overly
indulge in optimism. Besides, there is still the political factor
standing in the way of speedy economic recovery.

In brief, it is difficult under the circumstances to blame
critics for greeting the government's intended purchase of an
"Air Force One" of its own with cynicism and acrid comment. To
the masses of Indonesians, it must seem as if the government has
lost its sense of priority.

Rather than going ahead with this absurd plan, the government
had better put its money and energy into the far more urgent task
of accomplishing economic, political and administrative reform --
which to all too many Indonesians now must seem to be going
nowhere.