Anwar says IMF unfair if it opts to hold RI loan
Anwar says IMF unfair if it opts to hold RI loan
KANANASKIS, Alberta (Reuters): Malaysia's Deputy Prime
Minister and Finance Minister said on Friday he would push the
International Monetary Fund to begin the disbursement of its $10
billion loan to Indonesia as soon as possible.
"I don't think (any further delay) is fair. They (Indonesians)
have gone through a lot. The people suffered in the process and
now you have a government that is credible and determined to take
measures and necessary reforms," Anwar Ibrahim told reporters on
the eve of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) finance
minister's meeting in this resort town in the Canadian Rockies.
Anwar said he had met with IMF Managing Director Michel
Camdessus shortly after arriving in Kananaskis for the two-day
meeting.
"I expressed my views and concerns to Michel Camdessus. I said
the international community has been asking for reform. The
international community wanted Soeharto to step down. Soeharto
has now resigned and the commitment to reform is more pronounced
than ever," Anwar said.
Camdessus and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin both
said earlier on Friday that "some time" was needed before the IMF
could begin to pay new installments of its loan to strife-torn
Indonesia.
The IMF said the assumptions underpinning the loan would have
to be reassessed to take account of the new economic situation,
and both Camdessus and Rubin said a wait-and-see approach would
be the most prudent.
Anwar dismissed that strategy as a luxury that Indonesia could
not afford.
"The United States has the time and the luxury to wait, but I
think, considering Indonesia, (that) it's not fair, not
acceptable, not just, for a country that has undergone such a
traumatic experience, the hardship, the difficulties (to be
forced to wait for help)," Anwar said.
"You cannot expect people to wait and see when there is
growing unemployment and a shortage of food and medicine. I think
this is the time where the international community must be more
responsive in dealing with the situation."
Anwar said Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie -- whom
Anwar described as a "family friend" -- has supported the calls
for further democratic reforms and brought credibility to
beleaguered Jakarta.
He said he would make his views "strongly known" during a
scheduled meeting with Rubin on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
said plans for a bilateral trade financing scheme for Indonesia
still stand for now,
Lee said there was no change in Singapore's plans because such
Indonesian ministers as top economics minister Ginandjar
Kartasasmita remain in place.
Ginandjar was one of the ministers who kept his job when
Indonesia's President B.J. Habibie announced his cabinet line-up
after taking over from former President Soeharto on Thursday.
Singapore earlier in the year announced plans for a US$5-
billion trade insurance scheme for Indonesia, hard-hit by the
regional economic crisis.