Bappenas should be dissolved

Bappenas should be dissolved

From Republika

I would like to put a question to the President, who is also a populist economist: When will the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), which follows the New Order regime's top-down economic development pattern, be dissolved?

The pattern has produced a handful of multinational corporations, while at the same time impoverishing urban and rural communities.

After its dissolution, the government should set up an economic inspectorate with the following main duties: - Controlling the operation of foreign and domestic investors so as to prevent them from disrupting local economies, let alone impoverishing local populations. - Controlling local governments' economic policies so as to prevent them going down the path of free market competition. They should instead boost cooperation and mutual assistance in the local and national interest - Performing other functions that are important for the upholding of the people's sovereignty in the economic sector.

IKRANAGARA Washington DC, U.S.