Favor-seeking entrepreneurs

Favor-seeking entrepreneurs

As President Abdurrahman Wahid has told us, many businesspeople come to him asking for favors, i.e. government projects. Those people lack the creativity and the capacity to start their own undertakings.

But why come to the President? Perhaps it is because they regard Abdurrahman's government as identical to the New Order regime, under which many government projects were given to cronies of Soeharto through corruption, collusion and nepotism. Government projects have always appealed to businesspeople because they provide secure captive markets. That is to say, hard work is not needed and there is no fear of competition.

Obviously, this is cause for concern. While the government is trying to transform our economic institutions and implant in them a new vision, a corrupt mentality is still present in some of our businesspeople who are unprepared to live in the new millennium.

In this era of reform, with its emphasis on the eradication of corruption, collusion and nepotism in all areas of life, our businesspeople are expected to be able to become the driving force of development. Building a nation alludes not only to the development of its identity by molding norms, it also means boosting the nation's creativity and education as an investment in proper human resources development.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta