Cabinet needs improvement

Cabinet needs improvement

The Cabinet plays a vital role since it is the motor that sets
the government in motion. Unless the Cabinet functions as it
should, we are afraid our economic prospects for this year will
not be as good as we would wish. Since investors need to have
confidence in the technical capabilities of the Cabinet to
perform, bad coordination among ministers will weaken the inflow
of investment.

Several bankers and businessmen have assured us that investors
would be coming to Indonesia once the Y2K threat has passed,
bringing with them (only) about 50 percent of their working
capital because the banking sector in this country has not as yet
recovered from its crisis. The return of investors to this
country, however, will also be determined by such problems as how
the Cabinet tackles the economy, the human rights situation,
disintegration and the quality of the teamwork among Cabinet
ministers.

The inflow of foreign capital, especially for direct
investment, helps determine economic growth. We hope, therefore,
that our Cabinet ministers can manage to improve its record
before they lose the backing of their supporters.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta