Habibie vows not to repeat mistakes of his predecessor

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie promised yesterday not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor Soeharto who prioritized economic growth at the expense of wealth distribution.

He said such an approach to development had created monopolies, oligopolies and unhealthy economic competition, where only a small number of people controlled the country's economy.

"The old economic policy, implemented during the last three decades, resulted in a wide economic gap. The target to achieve economic growth, while neglecting distribution (of wealth), has encouraged conglomeracy," Habibie said when he opened the fifth congress of Indonesian Indigenous Enterprises Association (HIPPI) at the Bina Graha presidential office yesterday evening.

The President expressed his belief that his three-month administration's economic strategies, based on populist economic concepts emphasizing self-reliance and self-esteem, would be able to simultaneously stimulate economic growth and ensure good distribution.

According to Habibie, under the new blueprint repeatedly trumpeted by Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono, the government will restructure the distribution of national economic resources and will redistribute productive assets.

The redistribution of productive assets is meant to create a new social structure.

Habibie said his new policy would create a strong middle class, while the lower and upper classes would play a smaller role, in contrast to past practices.

A powerful middle class was key to the country's economic and political democratization, he noted, as well as the establishment of social justice as mandated by the Constitution.

The President vowed the country would remain independent economically, although he admitted that at present the government had to borrow large sums from foreign countries and donor agencies.

"As a nation we must be independent. Foreign debts, often made under conditions which are not easy (to meet), are only a temporary measure," the President said.

He said a speedy economic recovery would only be possible if the entire nation worked hand in hand and put aside their differences.

He hoped that people would remain patient, because prolonged social and political tension would only worsen the country's situation.

He cited economic problems as the most critical priority because political issues would be settled next May through the general election.

"Therefore I appeal to all of the nation's components, let us focus our national agenda on economic recovery," the president remarked.

Yawning social gap and the concentration of many of the country's assets on the hands of a few had contributed to the increasing social and political tension over the past years.

The tension erupted into rioting in May, when 1,200 people were killed and more than 160 Chinese-Indonesian women assaulted and raped, which forced Soeharto to step down. Expression of outrage over the violence still continued.

Yesterday, more than 200 Chinese citizens petitioned the Indonesian embassy in Beijing over atrocities committed against ethnic Chinese during the rioting.

The petition, containing the signatures of 232 Chinese people, compared Indonesian violence against ethnic Chinese to Nazi Germany's crimes against Jews.

"The brutality is an insult to the dignity of the world's 1.3 billion Chinese people," the petition said as reported by Reuters.

Jiang Qisheng, a pro-democracy activist, Zhao Xin, a businessman, and Wu Pei, a teacher, submitted the strongly worded letter to an embassy official. The signatories included several well known activists and their relatives.

The petition called on international groups such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund to push Jakarta in its investigation of the racial crimes.

Indonesia's deputy chief of mission in Beijing, Ibrahim Yusuf, met with the three for about half an hour.

"We accept their concerns and will send them to the government," Yusuf said afterwards.

"But we explained to them that the government of Indonesia condemns the May violence and has established a fact-finding committee. The results of the fact finding will be announced here," he said.

For their part, the petitioners said they were pleased with Yusuf's "sincerity". (prb)