Foreign investors

The address delivered by John Arnold, chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, on Jan. 18 at Hotel Sahid Jaya in Jakarta was published in The Jakarta Post on Jan. 28 and Jan. 29: Attracting new investment in Indonesia.

I was grateful to the Post for printing this important address. The speech gave so many tips worthy of comment and quotation that it will have to suffice to quote just a number of these tips for immediate comment.

First of all, the prediction was made that some day Indonesia, abounding in natural resources, would be one of the richest countries in the world.

However, it must be remembered that similar sentiments have often been intimated by other observers. As usual it is not surprising when an anomaly unveils itself to dash such ideas. This is evidenced by an assertion made by the speaker himself, although he was referring to Indonesia's image. In his words, Indonesia's international image is regrettably one of a bankrupt, lawless country on the brink of disintegration.

Consequently, it seems futile to make such self-complacent and fanciful predictions as foreseeing Indonesia becoming one of the richest countries in the world. We cannot escape the harsh reality that as long as the quality of education is neglected and schools uncared for, it will be impossible to raise the morals of the country.

And this will undoubtedly have an impact on efforts to combat corruption and eradicate poverty.

Touching on the topic of corruption, Arnold defined it as a cancer which eats into the very fabric of society. It is condemned as distorting business decisions, resulting in the serious misallocation of resources.

The rampant corruption within Indonesia's bureaucracy resulted in a British company making five years of painstaking efforts at costly high-level negotiations only to barely begin an infrastructure project in Indonesia.

An identical project by the same company in a country in west Africa was negotiated, financed and completed within six months. This is in sharp contrast to the five-year experience undertaken by the British company in negotiating and executing its infrastructure project in Indonesia, which sounds highly incredible and utterly shameful.

But this apparently is a fact. An overhaul of the system is urgent. The other complaint which causes great concern among prospective investors is tax problems. A personal appeal on this account was made by Arnold. He said, "Please, minimize red tape and levies that only serve to increase the cost of doing business (in Indonesia)." It is hoped that such an appeal will not have the same result as raising a cry in the Sahara.

S. SUHAEDI

Jakarta