Govt focuses more on small, medium firms

JAKARTA (JP): Government economic policies will be geared more towards promoting small and medium enterprises and less on big businesses, Minister of Finance Bambang Sudibyo said on Saturday.

Bambang said the development of small and medium enterprises had been neglected in the past with business conglomerates receiving all the attention, Antara reported.

Developing the economy based on improving the welfare of the people and stepping up production by raising the value of goods will speed up the country's goal for a civil society, he was quoted as saying at the Ansor Youth Movement regional seminar in Jambi Saturday.

The minister blamed the conglomerates for ruining the economy and putting Indonesia into heavy debt. They had too much leeway in controlling the economy during the New Order Regime, he said.

"It's enough that after 32 years they've destroyed this country. Their elbowroom is now being cut down to size," he said.

The government of President Abdurrahman Wahid will no longer give special privileges to those conglomerates, Bambang said.

The government will not tolerate practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism, including by business people.

"Nobody is above the law," he said.

Bambang likened his task to "doing the dirty dishes after a big bash." Cleaning up will take a long time, he added.

"I should be called Menteri Kehutangan (minister of debts), because all I do is pay debts," he quipped.

Bambang also said that the government subsidies, intended to assist the poor, had been misdirected.

"According to the law, the object of the subsidies is to benefit the less fortunate people. In reality, the subsidies have been enjoyed by people in the middle and upper income groups," he said.

The benefits of subsidized electricity, fuel, and fertilizers have largely gone to people in the upper income groups. Poor people who live in small villages and along the coastline hardly ever benefited from them, he said.

The government has been mandated by the International Monetary Fund to phase out the fuel subsidy, but the House of Representatives delayed increasing some of the fuel prices originally planned for April 1.

Bambang said the government plans to revamp its subsidy system by targeting directly those in the lower income groups.

The government will also set higher tax rates for those in the upper income group, he added. (10)