For whom the bell tolls

For whom the bell tolls

The government will soon begin labor-intensive projects to
employ several thousand unskilled workers needing to earn an
income during the Christmas, New Year and Ramadhan season.

President Soeharto called for the state-funded labor program
because, in his words, blue-collar workers are suffering from the
severe economic turmoil as many private-industry projects,
especially in the construction sector, have been rescheduled or
terminated due to cash-flow problems.

In response to the President's directive, the government is
developing flood-prevention projects -- such as the construction
of drainage ditches, the renovation of dikes and water canals and
the rejuvenation of slum areas -- primarily for Jakarta and
Surabaya. Similar projects are being designed for regencies hit
hard by the prolonged dry season throughout the country.

The Jakarta city administration announced last week that it
would employ an additional 5,000 unskilled workers per month
starting in January. The program, it said, would last at least
three months when it would then be reviewed. By then, 15,000
workers would have been offered employment.

The government did not mention the number of construction
workers nationwide who have lost their jobs since the beginning
of the monetary crisis, but it has been estimated at two million.

The government step is, of course, most welcome. However,
since unemployment figures were alarmingly high before the start
of the economic crisis, one wonders why the projects have only
begun now.

Indonesia has been sending a significant proportion of its
workforce abroad for some time now to ease the country's
unemployment rate. The fact that a large majority of those are
unskilled domestic workers has not helped our nation's image. The
recent forced repatriation of tens of thousands of these workers
and reports that many were abused in their host country has not
helped improve the situation.

In Jakarta, the unemployment situation has also become worse
lately, aggravated by an influx of unskilled people from poorer
rural areas. The United Development Party (PPP) faction in the
city council reported in October that there were between 100 and
500 people looking for employment, and between 500 and 1,000
cases of underemployment in each of the city's 265 districts. In
a city of nine million people, the level of unemployment had
already increased from 4 percent last year to 6 percent before
the current crisis started.

The government's effort to temporarily employ a few thousand
workers will not solve the fundamental problems responsible for
the economic crisis. It may, however, help to prevent open
protests resulting from unemployment before the People's
Consultative Assembly elects a new president and vice president
in March.

Besides its economic problems, the nation needs to immediately
respond to acute noneconomic challenges to which the government
has so far only answered with old promises.

Behind an economy that has made tremendous progress until
recently, there also has lurked the dark shadow of monopoly,
favoritism, nepotism, public distrust of the rupiah,
institutionalized inequality and a weakness of supervision.
Politically, Indonesia lacks transparency, an uncertain
succession scenario, increasingly weak legislative and judicial
bodies, rampant corruption and a freedom of expression which has
been turned into an art of whispers.

People here could predict the current leaders of neighboring
countries as long as 15 years ago, while today they still find it
a mystery as to who will be their vice president three months
from now.

Some said this had been made possible by the concept that
freedom grows from prosperity, and not the other way around.