Govt continues to get criticized over performance

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The first 100 days of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration have passed. But criticism of his government continues unabated, with most considering that he had so far failed to improve the country's investment and business climate.

"The government has put the direction of its economic policy into its 100-day program and National Medium-term Development Plan (RPJMN). But can the program and the plan accomplish the vision and mission of the President and Vice President and solve the people's economic problems?" asked Aviliani of Tim Indonesia Bangkit (Indonesia Awakens Team) in a discussion on Wednesday.

She said that government programs and policy during the first 100 days did not demonstrate any of the changes promised by the state leaders during their election campaign.

Another speaker at the discussion, Fadhil Hasan, said the 100- day program was only a compilation of routine programs proposed by ministries and other government institutions.

In its report, the team said that during the first 100 days the government should have established a stronger base for an improvement in tax collection, a reduction in debt burdens, and a contraction in spending, as mentioned in the President's vision statement.

Some critics also highlighted the government's failure to settle a number of high-profile disputes with foreign investors such as Mexican cement giant Cemex SA's case against state-owned PT Semen Gresik, the Karaha Bodas Company (KBC) case, and a row between state firm Pertamina and ExxonMobil over the Cepu gas and oil field.

Fixing these matters would automatically improve the nation's investment climate.

Another team member, Binny Buchori, told the discussion that the government was also weak in establishing strategies in development planning.

"The development plan, for example, does not mention any plan on the privatization of state enterprises, but it presumes a revenue worth of between 0.1 and 0.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from privatization," she said.

The RPJMN also indicated that the government, in financing development projects, would not try to pan more revenue from domestic sources other than taxation, such as profits from state enterprises, but it prioritized revenue from foreign loans, she said.

She said the government had projected revenue of about 0.7 to 1.2 percent of GDP from foreign loans.

Efficiency in state enterprises could actually help increase non-tax domestic revenue, she added. (004)