Bad governance

Bad governance

The way Indonesia's major aid donors are going on about the
need to establish good governance, both in public and corporate
sectors, raises a question about the objective of this exercise.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asia
Development Bank (ADB) and major foreign donor countries have
repeatedly emphasized the need for Indonesia to put its house in
order -- which what good governance is all about -- if their aid,
which this country needs now more than ever, is to continue.

With little fanfare, good governance has effectively become a
new string attached to the future aid for Indonesia, in the same
way respecting people's democratic rights, human rights and labor
rights have been incorporated over the past decade.

The IMF has twice delayed the disbursement of aid to Indonesia
since December because it was unhappy with the way the government
was implementing reform programs, including the promise of good
governance. The World Bank and ADB have also served notice that
they will closely monitor good governance in connection with
their loan programs in this country.

All of the foreign pressure on Jakarta raises the question
about the goal of good governance: Who is it for? There is no
doubt that the ultimate beneficiary of good governance would be
Indonesians. But it is not an exaggeration to say that
Indonesians, and certainly the government, have cared far less
than the international donor community about this issue.

Indonesia has not even bothered to find an appropriate
translation of "good governance", limiting public discourse on
such a crucial national issue to a very limited English-speaking
community in this country. Good governance may have become a
political buzzword, but only among a limited circle. If wider
public participation is part of what good governance is about,
then the government has committed a grave error by excluding,
consciously or not, the greater public in this endeavor.

All those promises of establishing good governance, including
the ones signed by the government in the letter of intent to the
IMF, have become nothing more than lip service to keep the donors
happy. Of course, the government fools no one but itself.

In keeping with its promise, the government has set up
councils and watchdog commissions to help establish good
governance in the public and corporate sectors. Because good
governance is a recent phenomenon in this country, the donor
community is giving Indonesia time to adjust. Sooner or later,
they will want to see results. Recent statements from the IMF and
the World Bank are warnings that they expect to see results soon.

Could the international community's persistence on good
governance be construed as interference in Indonesia's domestic
affairs? Some staunch nationalists are bound to use this to
further their chauvinistic agenda. The Soeharto regime, for
example, fanned nationalist sentiment quite successfully in
rejecting international pressure to improve democracy, human
rights and labor rights in this country.

If the experience from the Soeharto regime is anything to go
by, then a little dose of outside pressure is probably what
Indonesia needs in establishing good governance, especially in
view of weak domestic pressure. We must momentarily swallow our
national pride. Our political system is obviously not
sophisticated enough to ensure good governance. We still need a
little bit of prodding from outside, just like we needed them to
put pressure on the Soeharto regime to respect democracy, human
rights and labor rights.

The greatest danger of failing to establish good public and
corporate governors however is not on the inflow of future
foreign aid, but on the future of this country. Good governance,
although little discussed in this country, is an important goal
for the reform movement, along with a clean government. Without
either of these, reforms will fail, and Indonesia will once again
be condemned to the tyranny of the corruption, collusion and
nepotism practices of the recent past. The only difference is
next time, there won't be anyone else to bail us out from the
brink of bankruptcy.