Coal gasification

It is well known Indonesia's reserves of crude oil are being steadily depleted, to the extent that by 2010, if not sooner, Indonesia will become a net importer of oil. This will in turn have an adverse effect on the country's foreign exchange reserves. What are perhaps less widely known are Indonesia's colossal resources of coal -- 325 billion tons of the stuff, I believe.

Would it not therefore be prudent, in order to postpone the day Indonesia becomes a net importer of oil, for the Government to give some thought to the question of coal gasification? This process provided Germany's wartime economy the fuel it needed to sustain its huge military machine, primarily tens of thousands of "gas-guzzling" Panzer tanks and the Luftwaffe, all of which ran on gasoline-from-coal.

Like Indonesia, Germany had -- presumably still has - vast reserves of coal. What it did not, and does not, have is its own domestic reserves of oil. I imagine Professor Habibie must be aware of this situation, but I have neither heard nor read any reference to the establishment a coal gasification industry to supply the nation's need for ever increasing amounts of oil-based fuels.

R.B. SAWREY-COOKSON

Jakarta