As was the case in 2001, this year we are happy to provide our

As was the case in 2001, this year we are happy to provide our loyal readers with a wide variety of yearend articles covering the main issues that have been dominating the life of the country for the past 12 months.

The Jakarta Post hosted a two-day seminar involving 14 scholars from several fields of expertise at the Santika Hotel, Jakarta on Nov. 21 and 22, 2002, for advice on topics which should be presented.

The participants discussed the topics and shared their views before arriving at some concrete conclusions about the articles to be presented, which will appear in the Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 Special Yearend Section of the paper.

The seminar was moderated by senior economist Djisman Simanjuntak of Prasetia Mulya, and heard input from Bantarto Bandoro, of the Indonesian Quarterly at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), economist Chatib Basri of the LPEM-UI,Chusnul Mar'iyah of the National Election Committee (KPU), Herry-Priyono, a lecturer of the Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta, Ibrahim Assegaf, a Jakarta-based lawyer, Philips J. Vermonte and Puspa Delima Amri of CSIS, Raden Pardede of the Danareksa, Riefqi Muna of The Ridep Institute, Satya Arinanto from the University of Indonesia's School of Law, Smita Notosusanto from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) and Yanuar Nugroho from Indonesia Business Watch.

The focus of the discussions were a full review of the national reform agenda, which to a great extent, has been distorted or derailed. The Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 12, 2002 terror strikes have obviously worsened the national political and economic situation, which already had been deteriorating largely due to ineffective governance here. A lot of problems are unresolved, yet many of those are not even being discussed by the government.

The first YearEnd edition today offers the following stories:

1. (to come from contributor)..... -- Page 13 2. Another muddling-through scenario -- Page 13 3. Reinventing globalization -- Page 14 4. Corruption of the Republic -- Page 15 5. Economic integration in Southeast Asia -- Page 15 6. Essential services in 2003 -- Page 16 7. Competing with China -- Page 17 8. Fiscal sustainability -- Page 18 9. Challenges in public service delivery -- Page 18 10. The private capture of the common good -- Page 19 11. Techno-ethics -- Page 19 12. Newsmakers 2002 -- Page 20