Forget the New Order

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