Council for People's Economy to be set up before elections
Council for People's Economy to be set up before elections
JAKARTA (JP): Controversial Minister of Cooperatives and Small
Enterprises Adi Sasono said on Saturday that the Council for the
Development of the People's Economy would be launched before the
general election in June.
Adi stressed that such an institution was crucial to build a
strong foundation for the government's populist economic policy
because it would not only be involved in the preparations for the
economic program but also in its monitoring.
"The council's establishment is not related to the general
election. The council's establishment is simply an agenda that
has to be realized soon to meet the people's needs," he said on
the sidelines of a celebration of the sixth anniversary of the
Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES), a think
thank established by the influential Association of Indonesian
Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI).
Adi also denied the allegation that the council's
establishment before the general election was a political
maneuver in order to win the hearts of the people.
"No, no it is not part of my political campaign," he said.
Adi, who has been named the most dangerous man in Indonesia by
foreign media due to his critical view of business giants, said
that a presidential decree on the council's establishment was
issued recently and the government was completing some
technicalities related to the council, such as the institutional
aspects and personnel for the council.
He also expressed disappointment that the government's efforts
to help the needy were always met with cynicism.
"Why is it that every government move to help the small people
always elicits unfriendly responses?" he asked.
In the past three decades under former president Soeharto, who
resigned in May, a large share of the economy was perceived to be
controlled by a few conglomerates, most of which are reportedly
controlled by ethnic Chinese.
Adi's populist economy concept has been widely criticized.
Many observers charge that his populist policy is merely a "Robin
Hood" ploy in order to gain support from the majority of the
people and that it would not develop real entrepreneurs.
However, Adi says that his people's economy concept will be
included in a new letter of intent to be signed by the government
and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) next month.
Social Safety Net
Meanwhile, State Minister of National Development Planning
Boediono said that representatives of donor countries would be
included in designing the new concepts of the distribution of
social safety net funds.
"Bapennas (the National Development Planning Board) is
designing a new integrated concept based on the input of related
ministries, non-governmental organizations and representatives of
donor countries," he said.
Speaking after the occasion, Boediono added that the
representatives could be officials from the government or foreign
non-governmental organizations from donor countries.
"They will also be included in monitoring the program's
implementation and its targeted recipients," he said.
The recipients will be selected based on the latest
information, from surveys conducted by the government, non-
governmental organizations and other institutions.
The government has set aside Rp 20 trillion from the 1999/2000
state budget, up from Rp 17.79 trillion allocated for the current
fiscal year ending on March 31, to finance the social safety net
program.
Some charge that disbursement of the aid has been very slow,
is prone to collusion and lacks transparency.
President Habibie has urged his aides to improve and
accelerate the distribution of funds for the widely criticized
program.
Boediono said it was likely that most of the social safety net
projects, including special market operations providing cheap
rice for the poor and labor-intensive programs, would be designed
under "one roof".
The market operations are presently carried out by the State
Logistics Agency (Bulog) while the labor-intensive programs are
carried out by different ministries.
"We will not postpone the various social safety net projects
until we complete the improvement of the program. Funds will
continue to be distributed with several improvements," he said.
Boediono, however, said that the figure of the leaked aid was
very small.
"It is only a few dozen cases out of about 60,000 targeted
districts. By the way, the projects are running very well in
other regions, better than in Jakarta," he said. (gis)