Capitalism is no evil

Coordinating Minister for Trade and Industry Hartarto defines trade liberalization as a system of open international trade with minimum tariff barriers based on the 1945 Constitution.

After the APEC economic leaders' meeting in Bogor there has been a widely held perception that Indonesia is moving to liberate its economy.

Enough has been said about Indonesia's economy, which is neither capitalist nor socialist. Ours is a combination of market economy and a centralized economy.

Hitherto, we believe that a liberal economy is not suitable to Indonesia because there will be cut-throat competition where only the strong ones will survive and the common people will suffer with the government standing helplessly on the sideline.

This was true 150 years ago during the industrial revolution in Great Britain, which later swept all over Europe and the United States. Since the 1930s, however, this has not been the case.

The liberal economic system has since undergone a kind of evolution and developed into one that protects the weak. The intervention of government is still quite strong.

In advanced industrialized countries the system has even stricter regulations on competition compared to those in developing countries. At the same time, and due to various reasons, we witness distorted market mechanisms, protection, monopoly and collusion between businessmen and government officials in developing countries.

Hence, we do not see the reason for us to be defensive on being charged that ours is a liberal economy since it has ceased to be an evil.

--Kompas, Jakarta