Government vulnerable to new crony capitalism

Government vulnerable to new crony capitalism

The government is being increasingly challenged to show
results of the eradication of corruption, collusion and nepotism
after the recent Cabinet reshuffle, says economist Hadi Soesastro
of the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International
Studies. The following is an excerpt of an interview with The
Jakarta Post:

Question: Do you think the issues of corruption, collusion and
nepotism (KKN) lead to the sacking of Laksamana Sukardi and Yusuf
Kalla, respectively former state minister of investment and state
enterprises development and minister of industry and trade?

Answer: The allegations of KKN are very serious. Unfortunately
the procedure did not involve legal actions; KKN is not a
political issue, it's a legal one.

But there's a lesson from this, that Gus Dur (President
Abdurrahman Wahid) is being challenged to be serious through
consistency in abolishing KKN. I think this is very important as
the current government is very vulnerable to KKN.

Firstly because there are now so many political parties. They
are all already preparing to contest the 2004 general election.
They all have a tendency to loot the nation as the government
remains, until now, the only financial source for the parties.
The current government must realize this.

Secondly, the government is being challenged by the public,
particularly after the Cabinet reshuffle, to come up with clear,
efficient and proactive economic policies.

What is a proactive economic policy?

We can call it an activist policy. This means we select
certain industries, give preferences to specific ones and promote
them. But there's always danger in this while the government
remains weak.

Such a policy tends to be misused as it provides justification
for preferential treatment. Who can give justification to this
weak government and governance? They will be your friends and
cronies, just like what happened in the past. The sources of KKN
are varied.

What should the government do?

The government, especially Gus Dur, must be very careful. I
understand that there are already many people abusing Gus Dur's
name as their patron, to win some deals including electricity
projects. I don't know whether Gus Dur knows about this or not,
but we must remind him that he once said that he had no problem
meeting business people who wanted to see him, but not to give
them any facilities.

Gus Dur and Laksamana sound like they're trading allegations
of KKN. Your comment?

I think what Laksamana tried to question was why he was
accused of something also done by Gus Dur (about the appointments
of high-ranking officials). I find it very strange that Gus Dur
used such an accusation. He seems to be misguided by certain
groups; I don't know who.

How will all this affect the recovery of the economy?

This has created a lot of uncertainty again. It's going to
prolong the recovery. When people see instability, they begin to
question how we can begin to have an effective government.

It doesn't help the situation by getting rid of them
(Laksamana and Kalla). They are not the main source of the
problem. Businesspeople think that it's not the major
restructuring issue of the government.

The public is also critical of professionalism. Market
reaction was not so good after the appointment of the new
ministers.

Do you think that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar are serious about removing their
cadres from the Cabinet?

No. It will just remain a threat. Both parties are reluctant
to become the opposition. They want to have a part of the action
for their own interests.

Does this mean that we are not ready for any opposition?

It's good to have opposition. Our situation is now a bit
ambiguous ... the parties involved (in the cabinet) will support
the government's policy.

But what we've seen now, from the beginning, is that (Cabinet
ministers) are considered to be part of the coalition but they
don't behave like they are.

Each of them takes their own way. So what is this, I don't
understand; I see that some of the ministers are also not loyal
to their own parties, because they want to stay in the Cabinet.

What should the Cabinet prepare?

There must be a national platform. So far, each of the
ministers has gone their own way. Don't talk about the same
perception and about not working together, because there has
never been any platform.

They should sit together and agree to take measures and
action. It must be clear what has to be done. Without any
platform there may always be swinging like we've seen so far and
everything just changes.

In a coalition government like this, the policies have to be a
result of the regulations and compromises between the
participating political parties.

It now seems like there's a wall standing between the
executives and legislative body, even within the same parties. So
it's just a mess.

What do you think will happen at the General Assembly in
August?

I think there will be a compromise that it will only be to
hear a report from Gus Dur. But it may end with an event to
strongly criticize him if he fails to improve his governance from
now until August. That would seriously affect his legitimacy. (I.
Christianto)