Economist laments govt's lack of economic vision

Economist laments govt's lack of economic vision

JAKARTA (JP): The government does not have a comprehensive or
coordinated plan to achieve its long-term development targets,
economist Mari Pangestu said yesterday.

Mari, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies,
suggested the government should consider whether its previous
targets had been achieved.

"It's like making a budget, someone must do some checking...
We never do that," Mari said at the sidelines of a seminar on the
upcoming Seventh Five-Year Development Plan.

Mari said that without a comprehensive plan and thorough
evaluation, Indonesia would continue to face the same old
problems.

"Deregulation and facilitation measures are fine and should be
continued, but there are certain things that still need to be
resolved, such as the issue of a high-cost economy," she said.

"We have the (ongoing) Second Long-term Development Plan. We
have all the targets, but we don't have a plan on how to achieve
them -- at least not in a comprehensive and coordinated way," she
said.

Mari considered the government's second 25-year development
plan, which started April, 1994, was mostly a compilation of
figures and guidelines which had no clear assumptions as their
basis.

"If there were assumptions to accept, and if we decided to
accept them, we should then ask ourselves how can we guarantee
those assumptions will be met," she said.

Mari said the government's current economic policies were too
vague.

She said the government seemed to lack a long-term vision for
developing its economic policies and strategies.

"The government may have a leading industry, but what does
leading industry mean? You don't get anything from the
government, there are no subsidies, no special programs. What
does it mean?" she asked.

Such ambiguities, Mari said, should be clarified, for example,
by stipulating that human resources development should focus on
the so-called leading industries.

She compared Indonesia with neighboring Malaysia, which
recently launched its "Vision 2020" plan.

"Even though the outcome may not turn out exactly as planned,
at least there is a map and a strategy for every aspect of
development such as human resources, industry, social development
and environment," she said.

Mari said if the government was capable of setting up a
comprehensive and well-coordinated long-term plan, businesses
would readily follow it.

"If the government gave a clear signal, businesses would have
no choice but to go in that direction," she said.

She said comprehensive planning would result in a business
climate that helped domestic businesses compete globally.

She said businesses would be able to make their own scenarios
on how their products and services should fit into the frameworks
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area,
the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group and the World Trade
Organization. (pwn/rid)