Economists call for action not words

Economists call for action not words

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Economists called on the government yesterday
to quit its rhetoric and immediately undertake concrete action to
settle the monetary crisis.

Two economists from the Gadjah Mada University, Anggito
Abimanyu and Revrisond Baswir, said separately the government
should be realistic in viewing the economic crisis.

"What the Indonesians, including myself, now need is the
government's genuine actions to seriously settle the crisis,"
Anggito said. "The government should not play with figures
anymore."

He said the figures could be engineered. "People are now bored
with that kind of engineering," he said.

Chairman of the University's Economic Analysis Center,
Anggito, said the people need the government to provide a frank
and open explanation on the cause of the crisis, the steps the
government is taking to rehabilitate the economy, and the methods
it is using to reach a targeted 4 percent economic growth.

President Soeharto told a plenary session of the House of
Representatives on the government's draft budget for the
1998/1999 fiscal year Tuesday evening that despite the
inflationary pressure and continuing monetary instability, the
economy would still grow 4 percent this year.

Revrisond said the government should start listening to the
market's political aspirations.

"The government should not ignore the political dimension of
the crisis," he told The Jakarta Post.

He suggested the government learn from South Korea, which is
now experiencing the same monetary crisis as Indonesia.

"I'm not saying that we should do the same but we should see
the South Korean government's seriousness in settling their
crisis by employing George Soros as its financial consultant."

Soros is a U.S. financier, who Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad accused of destabilizing Southeast Asian
regional currencies.

Revrisond said the crisis could not be separated from the
people's declining trust in the government.

He lamented that the government tended to see the crisis as a
purely economic problem.

Anggito regretted the government's closed-door approach: "Why
should the government consider the crisis as merely an economic
problem, and neglect any other possibilities?"

He disagreed with the government's response, as sketched in
the president's statement before the House members saying that
political reform was unnecessary.

Anggito said it was obvious the rupiah's depreciation had been
spurred on by factors other than economics.

"How could the rupiah depreciate against the U.S. dollar just
because of rumors on President Soeharto's sickness or business
tycoon Liem Sioe Liong's death? The government should thoroughly
and honestly view the crisis," Anggito said.

Revrisond said the people also expected the draft state budget
to reflect a fundamental change in the government's attitude,
"but they couldn't find any changes in it".

Revrisond added that the calculation of the state budget using
an exchange rate of 4,000 against the U.S. dollar was
unreasonable.

The rupiah closed at 8,200 yesterday.

A local United Development Party's (PPP) legislator Syukri
Fadholi also said he was surprised that the 1998/1999 state
budget was made using an out-of-date rupiah exchange rate.
(23/swa/imn)