Businesspeople see optimism in Susilo's economic plans

Businesspeople see optimism in Susilo's economic plans

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

The economic presentation made by presidential candidate
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a dialog with the Indonesian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has lifted optimism for
the economy, a business leader said.

"Susilo answered questions from businessmen well, with clear
target figures and efficient policies. Although he was too
optimistic about them, businessmen thought that Susilo has at
least tried to raise business optimism," said businessman Sofjan
Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association
(Apindo), a powerful lobbying group.

Improving the business community's confidence in the economy
is seen as crucial to the next administration's effort to revive
investment, which is badly needed to accelerate economic growth
to the pre-crisis level of 7 percent. Investor confidence in the
country has been dwindling due to various factors, from legal
uncertainty to labor disputes, from red tape to poor
implementation of regional autonomy.

For the past few years, economic growth has been driven by
strong domestic consumption as investment and export declined.

Susilo and incumbent Megawati Soekarnoputri participated in
Monday's dialog. The former outlined a brighter economic plan
through a host of economic strategies including tax reform,
corruption eradication and improving the investment climate,
while the latter focused mainly on her success in stabilizing
macroeconomic indicators without providing clear strategies for
the next five years, if she was reelected.

Susilo said if his economic strategies were implemented, he
would project a faster economic growth of 7.6 percent by 2009,
with unemployment halved to 5.1 percent, poverty rate cut down to
8.7 percent and an increase in income per capita to US$1,731.

Sofjan said Megawati could have countered Susilo's policies if
she had laid out her economic plans in more detail.

"We have to acknowledge that Megawati has successfully
improved and stabilized the country's macroeconomic indicators,
but her future economic policies remain unclear, with several
unanswered questions from businessmen," he said.

Susilo, the front runner in the race, will run against
Megawati in the Sept. 20 presidential runoff.

Several businessmen who attended the dialog were observed
leaving the dialog early during Megawati's economic presentation,
saying that the proposed plans were unclear and focused more on
the faults of her predecessors in not resolving the prolonged
economic and political crises of the late 1990s.

Kadin chairman Mohamad S. Hidayat, on the other hand,
criticized Susilo's economic targets as unrealistic.

"Susilo is too optimistic. His target figures are unrealistic,
such as the reduction on unemployment rate. He can achieve the
target if his economic team can work a miracle, but I doubt
that," he said.

Hidayat explained that, in order for the unemployment rate to
decline from the current 10.1 to 5.1 percent in 2009, the economy
needed to grow by an average of at least 6 percent annually.