As RI stalls, the world shifts into high gear

As RI stalls, the world shifts into high gear

While Indonesia's economy is still in shambles and its
political situation remains uncertain, the philosophy of
development is undergoing a paradigm shift. Public affairs
commentator Wimar Witoelar hopes that the change will positively
affect the country.

JAKARTA (JP): We should be proud of ourselves. During the
recent international conference on Democracy, Market Economy and
Development held jointly in Seoul by the Korean government and
the World Bank, a distinguished speaker began his presentation by
saying, "The Indonesian crisis has refocused world attention on
corruption."

Noble prize laureate Oscar Arias Sanchez, a former president
of Costa Rica, said, "The age of dictators has ended. Today, the
likes of Stalin and Pol Pot, Soeharto and Pinochet cannot be
defended by any government."

Arias would be disappointed if he came here. But the point
being made by world leaders, thinkers, planners and doers is that
the philosophy of development is undergoing a paradigm shift,
from macroeconomics ("the numbers") to human development ("the
people"). This shift requires, above all else, good governance.

In Korea's rebound after its crisis, the parallel development
of democracy and the market economy has produced astounding
results. In one year, foreign reserves were built up from US$3.9
billion to $50 billion, and a current account deficit of $8.7
billion became a surplus of $39.9 billion.

In the same period, the inflow of foreign investment increased
from $6.9 billion to a record $8.9 billion. The exchange rate has
stabilized and interest rates have gone down from 30 percent to a
historically low 6 percent. These events were described by
President Kim Dae-jung during the conference, which "happened" to
coincide with the first anniversary of his presidency.

There are even more convergences. Kim, a human rights activist
for most of his life, now applies his political mandate to
advocate economic development. The World Bank since the Bretton
Woods days has been confined to economic development, but bank
president James Wolfensohn is taking this further to address
human elements: the structural and social aspects of society,
with special emphasis on poverty.

Now Wolfensohn is asking the bank to "fight poverty with a
passion", ardently emphasizing the inclusion of the poor, women,
the disabled and ethnic and religious minorities. Most
significantly, the bank and the world forum pinpointed corruption
as a cancer, the main impediment to investment.

Basically, Wolfensohn is taking moral issues and legitimizing
them as economic requisites. Comforting to us but challenging to
the bank, and even more challenging to the World Bank-dependent
Indonesian government. As Wolfensohn lauded the Korean president
in Seoul, his staff was watching the latest actions of Indonesian
President B.J. Habibie in Jakarta.

Following the East Timor controversy and the exposure of an
alleged obstruction of justice with the attorney general, Habibie
has now agreed to postpone the previously announced Feb. 27 bank
liquidations. With allegations of well-connected bank owners
being protected, this postponement invited cries of mismanagement
and foul play in a classic case of KKN (corruption, collusion and
nepotism) cronyism.

The nation's economy is on autopilot because the pilot has
lost touch with reality, and the economic managers do not have
the political or moral leadership to take command. As Korea
rejoices on the first anniversary of the Kim presidency, the
first nine months of Habibie's presidency have maintained
corruption and cronyism, substituted populist symbolism for
economic direction and allowed violence to ravage the country.

Ironically, this is occurring during a so-called time of
reformasi (reformation) under a President who is so out of touch
with reality that he is thinking of running again this year.

There is still a lot of good in Indonesia. We have a free
press thanks to popular pressure and a minister of information
who has impressed everyone with a modern attitude toward the
necessity of open discourse. Outside the government, economists
are designing a market economy. But the world is showing us that
we have to begin upstream by practicing democracy and becoming
acquainted with democratic concepts such as control and
accountability. When the market economy functions, development
comes as a downstream product.

If we stall in our campaign for reform, we must be inspired by
the global trend. Nobel prize laureate Amartya Sen calls the
emergence of democracy in the world the most striking development
of this century. No longer are we talking about whether a nation
is fit for democracy, rather we are saying that it has to become
fit through democracy.

They say sunlight is the best disinfectant, and transparency
(based on democratic practices) is the best antidote for
corruption.

A clean government and a reformist president is desired by
everyone, regardless of party or ideology. If we still have some
self-respect as a nation, we should not be ashamed to say that we
are ashamed of our current government.