Experts: What about economic rights?
Experts: What about economic rights?
JAKARTA (JP): As human rights campaigners marked the international human rights this weekend debating individuals' civic rights, another group of experts yesterday asked: "What about people's economic rights?"
Legislator A.A. Baramuli, economist Loekman Soetrisno and human rights activist B.N. Marbun joined in a seminar which concluded that people's economic rights have not fared any better than their political rights.
There is still a big disparity in almost every sectors of the economy, between the wealthy and the poor, and between those who have access to improve their lot and those who do not, Baramuli told the seminar organized by the Diponegoro University.
"Threats and violations to people's economic rights can be seen from the behavior of those in power and those who are economically strong in accumulating wealth. They're colluding without shame for their own greed," Baramuli said.
It is the government's duty to ensure economic justice for everyone, and to allow those who are economically weak to improve their condition, he said.
"A government policy seeking to ensure better balance in economic participation could hardly be called discriminative," he said in dispelling concerns that such a policy could lead to discrimination against the better off members of society.
He proposed the allocation of at least 70 percent of all bank credits to small and medium sized businesses, and at least 20 percent of all government projects to small enterprises.
This, he explained, would redress the imbalance in the economy that is now heavily dominated by big corporations.
Loekman said it was the wish of the nation's founding fathers 50 years ago that every citizen be given their economic rights, such as the right to jobs, to decent pay and to equal business opportunities.
This has not happened yet because in Indonesia political power and economic power are feeding on another, he said.
"Nepotism" and "favoritism" still prevail in Indonesia and this is affecting at the way economic decisions are being made, he said. "Those that acquire economic rights are those closest to people in power," he noted.
It is not surprising therefore if most bank credits fall into the hands of business people who are closest to the rulers, he said. And it is no wonder either that many of these credits often turn into bad loans, he added.
Loekman argued that people's economic rights cannot be respected in full as long as they are not given their political rights in full. (har/emb)