Govt economic

Govt economic
policies

The Jakarta Post's comment about our country's problems and
the government's economic team's performance in an editorial
titled Bitter medicine on May 17, contains a number of factual
errors.

This economic team shares the deep concern of the Post about
the consequences of a weakening currency. Since the current
Cabinet took office, the economic team has been working hard to
implement policies to strengthen the economy and the rupiah. We
have been successful in a number of areas, as acknowledged by our
partners.

In an important sense, the depreciation of the rupiah is at
least in part a "monetary problem". Bank Indonesia, not the
government, was given the responsibility by the current Central
Bank Law to maintain the value of the rupiah. If monetary growth
is too rapid, one will see the type of depreciation that we have
seen over the past 18 months. As Ross McLeod of the Indonesia
Project at the Australian University in Canberra pointed out on
your editorial page "if inflation and depreciation of the
currency get out of hand, the Central Bank must bear the blame".
And the fact is the Central Bank Law provides one single
objective for Bank Indonesia, i.e. maintaining the value of the
rupiah.

The economic team supports the central bank's efforts to
tighten the monetary policy, lower inflation and strengthen the
rupiah. Wherever blame lies for our current predicament, there
are a number of tough decisions that must be made. For instance
the weak rupiah and high interest rates that are needed to
address them have completely undermined the 2001 budget as passed
by the House of Representatives. Thus we now project that without
dramatic adjustments to our policies, the budget deficit will
balloon from 3.7 percent to 6 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

Since such a high deficit cannot be readily financed without
fueling further inflation or forcing interest rates even higher,
difficult times demand that hard choices be made. It is for this
reason that the government is proposing a series of tough
measures to the House. These will include reducing the burden of
subsidies on the budget, an increase in the value-added tax and a
reduction in development expenditures.

The House will have to make sure that it too can make hard
choices. The nation cannot afford to ignore the budgetary
problems in the hopes that it will somehow go away. Failing to
act now will only further weaken the rupiah and cause further
suffering for all Indonesians.

I would like to take exception to the short shrift your
editorial gives to the accomplishments of the people of Indonesia
last year. We should all be proud that despite the problems in
the country last year, the economy grew at 4.8 percent and
continued to grow at 4 percent into the first quarter of this
year, driven by high levels of non-oil and gas exports, higher
than precrisis levels. As stated by Coordinating Minister for the
Economy Rizal Ramli when he took office in August 2000, his
priority is first of all to push exports. That we now have the
beginnings of a recovery, as indicated by the increased use of
electricity and cement and increases in car production and sales
of motorbikes, is in part due to the diligence of a well-
coordinated economic team.

The economic team is now working to implement a comprehensive
set of economic policies that will improve the productivity of
Indonesian capital and labor so that our products are competitive
in world markets irrespective of the value of the rupiah.

But economic policies do not work in a vacuum. It will take
more than good economic policy to strengthen the rupiah. Without
some sort of solution to our political problems, there is not
much that an economic policy can accomplish.

KOMARA DJAJA

Deputy Macroeconomics and Finance
The Office of the Coordinating Minister for

Economic Affairs

;JP;WYS;
ANPAk..r..
Letter-silicone
Silicone surgery
JP/4/let

Silicone
surgery

I have just returned from lecturing and demonstrating
dermatologic surgical techniques at hospitals and universities in
Sumatra. While there, I read with great interest your lead
article in the Sunday, May 6, 2001 paper on silicone.

I was privileged to be invited to do surgery on multiple
ladies with impure silicone reactions while in Solo Tampil
menarik tanpa silikon (Beauty without silicone). I was a keynote
speaker on the subject "Complications of silicone injections" and
"Beauty without complications of silicone" at a seminar in
Jakarta.

The problems evolve not from properly administered pure
medical grade silicone, but from the impure and adulterated
products arriving from China, Taiwan and Thailand, your writers
have determined. However, pure silicone products are used
throughout the medical world by a variety of specialists, and it
panics people to misinterpret this fact.

Artificial impact organs of a variety of types are used
successfully, including breast, testes, chin, nose, ureter, etc.
All are pure, placed in sterile fashion, and excellent for their
respective intended uses. Recent use of a heavy liquid silicone
for eye implant work has gone on successfully, and additional new
products are on the horizon. But none of these are impure,
adulterated or non-sterile, as found in Indonesia, and all are
placed by physicians rather than lay operators.

A comment from a plastic surgeon, Dr. Yefta Moenadjat, quoted
in your paper, is incorrect. Collagen injections do not stimulate
"the formation of natural collagen after each injection". There
is a minimal fibrotic reaction to the bovine (cow skin) product
in some humans, but reliable and permanent collagen is not lain
down after each injection.

Having personally participated in the original clinical
studies on the product these many years ago, biopsy studies of
injected sites failed to confirm Dr. Yefta's claim. Your reading
public is advised to consult with knowledgeable
dermatologists/dermatologic surgeons when any foreign materials
are to be injected into or on their skin.

PROF. DR. LAWRENCE M. FIELD

Foster City, California

USA

;JP;WYS;
ANPAk..r..
Letter-toll gate
Kebon Jeruk toll gate
JP/4/let

Kebon Jeruk
tollgate

The Tangerang toll road, particularly the area between Kebon
Jeruk and the Slipi intersection, which has been a burden for
many motorists, would be a smoother and more comfortable drive if
only the authorities were more responsive to the current traffic
situation.

At present, the tollgates to Tangerang and the tollgates to
Kebon Jeruk are both located at the same point, across the entire
width of the toll road. All the vehicles going to Tangerang and
to the significantly growing number of housing areas around Kebon
Jeruk (Puri Indah, Kedoya, etc.) become bottlenecked. As a
result, the traffic between the tollgates and the Slipi
intersection often get congested.

It is necessary for the authorities to build a new set of
tollgates to Tangerang that are separate from the Kebon Jeruk
tollgates, located a considerable distance up the road. The
current location of the Tangerang tollgates is the culprit of the
present traffic congestion near the Kebun Jeruk exit area and
therefore should be removed. That would be a great relief for
commuters from Tangerang and Kebon Jeruk, as well as for the
intercity cargo trucks which are frequent users of the toll road.

JENNY LAURITZ KHOENG

Jakarta

;KORAN TEMPO;JRS;
ANPAk..r..
Letter-election
Expedite general election
JP/4/let

Election should
be expedited

From Koran Tempo

Considering the heated political situation in our country,
plus the fact that the majority of factions in the House of
Representatives continue to insist that President Abdurrahman
Wahid step down, I would like to propose that the next general
election be expedited. Namely, I propose the elections be held in
2002 rather than in 2004, when Abdurrahman's term in office is
scheduled to end.

In my opinion, this proposal should be delivered to
Abdurrahman during the planned meeting between the President and
the leaders of the four top political parties. In this way, there
would be no need to hold a special session of People's
Consultative Assembly. Also, this plan would calm the political
situation so the government could perform its job in peace.

SOETARSO PRIASUKMANA

Bogor, West Java

;WARTA KOTA;FAL;
ANPAk..r..
Letter-violence
Violence on the train
JP/4/let

Stop violence
on the train

From Warta Kota

Attacks on the train to Bekasi, Cikarang and Purwakarta have
been going on every day now for nearly a month. Stone throwing
and even some passengers threatening others with sickles are
almost becoming a fact of life. The victims are usually innocent
people, including small children and the elderly, who know
nothing about this problem. This hooliganism always happens when
the train stops at the Cakung station or travels on the route to
Cakung and Kranji.

By writing this letter, I am appealing to those Cakung
residents who attack the train either from the platform or from
behind the banana trees in the area to stop these heinous acts.
What good is it to throw stones at innocent people?

Dear brothers, if any of you or your relatives were hurt
because of these criminal acts committed by these people, you
should take the matter to court, no matter how bad our judiciary
is. But please remember that there is also the law of God.

You can, of course, hide and inflict injuries on others, but
that does not solve any problems. Whatever your reasoning is for
these actions, I firmly believe that you still have a conscience
that outweighs vengeance. Therefore, do not use violence as it
never solves any problems. Violence only breeds violence.

MITA SIAHAAN

Bekasi, West Java