Forget the New Order

High-profile Gen. (ret) Hartono - accompanied by a daughter of former president Soeharto, Siti Hardijanti Rukmana (Tutut) - told the audience during a rally for their party, the Concern for The Nation Functional Party (PKPB), in Yogyakarta on Sunday that they should become "cronies" of Soeharto.

Tutut in her speeches during the recent campaign has vowed to return the nation to the "glorious days" she claims it experienced under her father. There was no explanation, however, as to how Tutut would do this.

What needs clarification here are the statements that the so- called golden days were the result of Soeharto's work alone. If the barometer of success is money, most people may agree that many Indonesians enjoyed better economic times. It is true that the economic growth reached 7 percent per annum, prices were stable and Indonesia exported rice. But, these "achievements" were the result of oil, foreign borrowing, a stable world economy, and sheer good luck. By the early 1980s, the government had achieved many things.

The situation then started to change. Regulation was loosened to accommodate rising demand. New banks were easily established. Unfortunately, the monitoring and control systems were so weak that political and individual interests took charge of development programs. Corruption got out of hand and had reduced the country to helplessness when the economic crisis hit Asia in 1997. The rupiah collapsed against the U.S. dollar.

Over the last five years we have been striving to return to the "good old days" but have so far failed, making some people dream of turning the clock back to the New Order era. However, the good economic times will not come back for so long as we just try to forget the New Order, but allow old practices, such as corruption and poor law enforcement, to continue.

So, it is essential that through the current election the nation chooses the best leaders for the sake of real reform.

-- Koran Tempo, Jakarta