Government has completed 84 percent of initial programs, Mulyani claims

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.