Habibie backs Radius' task force appointment
JAKARTA (JP): A senior cabinet minister lauded yesterday former finance minister Radius Prawiro's appointment as head of a task force to help private sector companies settle their mounting debts.
State Minister of Research and Technology, B.J. Habibie, said President Soeharto's decision to assign Radius was wise and correct.
"We have no doubts about Radius Prawiro's experience and reputation," Habibie told reporters after attending the launch of a biography of a former chairman of the state-owned Securities Paper and Mint Printing Company (Perum Peruri), Soebono Mantofani.
He said that Radius was one of the catalysts in the success of the Indonesian economy, and could rationally and objectively help alleviate the private sector's debt burden.
Radius Prawiro was assigned last week to head a task force to assist the private sector negotiate payment of its mounting offshore debts.
The task force includes the chief executive officer of the Salim Group, Anthony Salim; the chairman of the Argo Manunggal Group, The Nin King; and the chief of the Gobel electronics group, Rachmat Gobel.
Radius was minister of finance from 1983 to 1988 and coordinating minister for economy and finance from 1988 to 1993.
Asked about the impact of appointing a non-cabinet member to help settle the economic crisis, Habibie said it would not influence the cabinet.
"We all live under one big Indonesia Corporation," he said. "You (journalists) should think this decision as one made to safeguard the country's economy."
Politician Megawati Soekarnoputri called on all elements in society yesterday to cooperate shoulder-to-shoulder to settle the monetary crisis.
"The monetary crisis should not be considered merely a government problem," she said after attending a seminar on political and economic reform held by alumni of the Nationalist Students Movement.
"The crisis is multidimensional and needs multidimensional efforts, involving all elements in society from all walks of life," she said.
Megawati, the ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party, also called for transparency and seriousness from the government in handling the crisis.
"Many observers have described the current monetary crisis as a total crisis," she said. "Therefore, the government should be consistent and have the moral courage to transparently disclose the real problem and the steps it will take (to address it)."
Megawati has recently issued a year-end remarks saying she had deliberately kept quiet in the past few months to give the government and the Armed Forces the opportunity to solve various problems, including the ongoing monetary crisis.
"Had an end to the monetary crisis been guaranteed, including ways to improve our economy and save it from being crippled, I might have chosen to keep on being silent... even though it pains me," she said. (imn)