IMF a cold-blooded strangler

IMF a cold-blooded strangler

From Pikiran Rakyat

I would like to refer to a report in Pikiran Rakyat, dated Feb. 6, 2001 entitled IMF worried about Indonesia's increasingly inflated debts. Commenting on it, Rizal Ramli stated that Indonesia had to limit our foreign loans, including those signed by our regional governments now under regional autonomy policy, because they were afraid that we will not be able to pay up.

Is it true that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants us to limit our foreign loans because they are afraid that we will not be able to pay up? Or, was the IMF only courteous, because they indeed have a political interest? And how do Muslims get rid of their foreign loan trap?

The IMF is a body which has the authority to supervise lending countries that are unable to settle their debts. The IMF functions as the financial police for creditor countries, and ignores the one country one vote system. In the IMF, the strength of a country's vote is determined by the strength of its economy and paid capital.

Developing countries like Indonesia must obey the IMF. It is the IMF which demanded that the government cut the granting of subsidies for fuel, electricity, and others, which are clearly needed very much by the people.

Therefore the IMF is a cold-blooded strangler. We have witnessed so much suffering caused by the IMF and the obedience of authorities to capitalistic countries that are led by the United States of America (USA) through their international institutions.

Will Muslims not learn from the greediness of the USA and other capitalistic countries that are never satisfied with dominating Islamic countries rich in natural sources, and then snare us with their foreign loans?

Muslims should observe how the USA and capitalistic countries through the IMF and their World Bank press and force us in their interests and ideologies by relating their foreign loans to the issues of human rights, democracy, transparency, reform, the environment, labor etc. which actually have nothing to do with foreign loans.

DEWI

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