Economic crisis can erode govt's legitimacy: Arbi

Economic crisis can erode govt's legitimacy: Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): The ongoing economic turmoil could erode the
government's legitimacy as it can no longer compensate for the
tight political restrictions with economic benefits, a political
scholar believes.

The University of Indonesia's Arbi Sanit said Saturday that
the government would lose its legitimacy as the economy, which
has been long-regarded as the New Order's major success story,
begins to stagnate.

The government "cannot compensate with welfare anymore for
political restrictions applied on the people in the name of
stability," the prominent political scientist said.

"The crisis, which began to evolve in the mid-1997, has only
worsened the tense relations between the state and the people,"
Arbi told a discussion at the National Institute of Sciences.

In a nine-page paper made available for release Saturday, Arbi
said the government's legitimacy had also deteriorated with the
continued "illegitimate relationship" with the private sector
through widely practiced collusion and corruption.

The private sector has been widely criticized for its huge
external debts which many have said is one of the main
contributing factors to the current economic turmoil. Analysts
say it exceeds US$65 billion.

Arbi maintained that the crisis was in part due to the poor
quality of the current cabinet compared to previous ones under
President Soeharto.

"Coordination among members of the sixth development cabinet
is very weak. Just look at the ability of some ministers, it is
well below the New Order standard," he remarked without
mentioning names.

Arbi then went on to criticize the bureaucracy.

"The bureaucracy is sinking in its own mounting problems and
it has been so corrupt and irresponsive (to the people)," Arbi
charged.

Unrest

Arbi predicted that this year would be marred by continued
social unrest as the government failed to solve several of the
country's basic problems.

He identified these as the widening of the social and economic
disparity between the rich and the poor, the bureaucracy's
ignorance and irresponsiveness, and the uncertainty of the legal
system.

"Social unrest will probably occur this year as these basic
problems have not been touched upon by the government," Arbi
said.

Riwanto Tirtosudarmo of the National Institute of Sciences
shared Arbi's opinion, saying that the rising unemployment due to
the economic crisis would likely spark social unrest.

"As basic necessities cannot be obtained by the people
anymore, then it would be normal if people carry out actions
which may break the law," Riwanto said.

Riwanto lamented that workers were still considered by the
government merely a commodity and therefore open to exploitation.

He also criticized the recent manpower law for failing to
accommodate workers' rights.

"Laborers in Indonesia have been weakened politically as they
are deemed a threat to national stability by the government," he
said.

He expressed concern that as long as the government considered
the labor force a threat, workers' morale would never improve.

"I doubt that workers' conditions will ever improve if those
long-standing perceptions prevail," Riwanto said. (10)