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.