Analysts stress need for reforms to bureaucracy

Analysts stress need for reforms to bureaucracy

JAKARTA (JP): Political analysts hailed the international
rescue package for Indonesia but demanded radical bureaucratic
reforms to ensure proper use of the funds.

Amien Rais of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University
suggested during a seminar here Saturday that Indonesia pay
attention to the former Soviet Union's reform program,
perestroika, launched after it received a massive financial aid
package worth nearly US$40 billion.

"The government must declare an all-out battle against
widespread monopolistic practices, a widening socioeconomic gap
and nepotism.

"A halfhearted reform as shown by the government so far will
lead the country nowhere," Amien told a seminar held by the
Institute of Religious and Philosophical Studies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Friday in
Washington a whopping $23 billion in aid, adding to bilateral
assistance commitments by Asian countries, Australia, Canada and
the United States, which totaled $16 billion.

In exchange for the aid package, Indonesia vowed to revoke
several state monopolies and shut down 16 financially troubled
private banks.

Political analyst Krissantono said the foreign aid would
support national economic survival, but he warned that it needed
to be backed by a political will to establish a clean government
and put an end to extravagant lifestyles.

"The government will lose credibility if people still see
officials living in luxury in spite of the economic crisis, or
wasting the state budget for ceremonial purposes."

He said social unrest seemed unavoidable in the near future
due to the government's economic reforms, part of the IMF's
conditions for the rescue program.

"Social unrest triggered by unemployment and insecurity among
employees look to be imminent threats," the former Golkar
legislator said.

The closure of 16 banks and some 250 branches across the
country will leave thousands of people unemployed. The number of
jobless will also increase with the return of thousands of
problematic Indonesian workers from Saudi Arabia.

But he called on the government not to resort to a security
approach to solve social problems merely because Indonesia was
bracing itself for the general session of the People's
Consultative Assembly in March next year.

"Instead, the government should let the public know exactly
what its reform policies are as soon as possible."

He suggested the Assembly members learn from the currency
turmoil and draw up State Policy Guidelines which anticipate a
crisis in the future.

"They should, for example, reconsider whether or not certain
high cost technology remains feasible in the period of recovery,"
he said.

A newly installed University of Indonesia professor, Maswadi
Rauf, said the IMF offer proved the fund's determination to help
Indonesia settle its financial crisis.

"The IMF must have decided that the prolonged crisis was not
Indonesia's mistake. It was a misfortune," he told The Jakarta
Post Saturday.

He dismissed suggestions that political motives lay behind the
IMF's lending, saying the world financial body made the decision
based on its confidence of Indonesia's capability to repay the
loan.

"The IMF must have been confident that Indonesia is
politically stable enough to ride out the crisis and that its
economy will recover," he said.

Maswadi joined the chorus demanding for the eradication of
chronic corruption and colluding practices if the government was
to thoroughly heal the ailing economy.

"People can no longer tolerate leakages in our economy," he
said. (imn/amd)