Government has completed 84 percent of initial programs, Mulyani claims
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Amid scathing criticism from some sections of the media of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over his administration's performance during its first 100 days in office, one of his aides revealed that the government had successfully completed 84 percent of the 68 programmed actions involving the Office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy.
"The 68 actions consist of five concerning the settlement of conflicts and elimination of illegal activities, 60 on improvements in public welfare and three on special programs concerning the Christmas and New Year festivities," State Minister for National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati said after a ministerial coordinating meeting on Monday.
Of the 68 actions, she added, 57 had been completed or were almost completed.
"The remaining 11 have not yet been completed as they also involve other institutions," she said, adding that these other institutions included the House of Representatives among them.
Actions currently underway included the issuance of a decree on reasonable living needs by the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration and a planned debt swap agreement with Britain for the revamping of Damri buses.
Also included was a legal dispute between the Jakarta administration and the Jakarta Waterfront Development Board (BP Pantura) on the one hand and the Office of the State Minister for the Environment on the other concerning the redesigning and reevaluation of a reclamation project in Jakarta Bay.
Another action, Mulyani revealed, involved the holding of talks with the local community in Bojong, Bogor regency, on a garbage incinerator in the area. The locals opposition to the incinerator turned violent last year when security officers fired live bullets at a protesting crowd, killing six people.
Another action concerned local government on-granting and on- lending procedures, which still needed clearer rules regarding foreign debt, Mulyani said.
"We will continue monitoring and evaluating the impact of the actions on the investment climate and on macroeconomic stability," she added.
Earlier in the day, Susilo said at the State Palace that government officials must "not become frustrated with the criticism".
"There has been wide and scathing criticism of me. But we are doing the right things, so don't become frustrated," he said.
Susilo acknowledged that his administration faced a daunting task in trying to improve things in the country amid the "immense destruction" it had inherited from previous governments. This mountain of problems, he added, had left his administration's achievements buried behind the problems that had yet to be resolved.
"No government in this world can improve its country's situation within only 100 days. My administration's first 100 days are just the beginning of the effort to resolve the massive and complicated problems besetting us," he said.
"What are the parameters employed in accusing us (the government) of failure in running the country? Are the security and economic situations in our country getting worse, are they stable or are they improving? I think that conditions are improving."
A number of observers and activists have criticized Susilo for failing to address those problems he had said would be his main priorities, including the rooting out of corruption and the resolution of some high-profile disputes involving foreign investors.