Indonesia is like a corporation

Indonesia is like a corporation

I am writing in reply to a letter in The Jakarta Post, Feb. 2,
1999 by Mr. Amir Sidharta who laments the fact that Indonesia was
perceived as a large corporation. This description is more
accurate than Mr. Amir thinks.

For years this country was run just like a large corporation.
Only the commissioners and the directors were fiddling the books,
directing most of the profits their way in collusion with some of
their suppliers (the conglomerates) to the point that it
bankrupted the whole corporation (the Indonesian economy) with
the minority share holders (the Indonesian people) losing the
most, being left with the bill and having to repay all the debts
that were needed to resuscitate the corporation (through future
taxation).

Unfortunately the corporation's regulatory authorities, the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House of
Representatives (DPR), the Attorney General's Office, the Police
and the Armed Forces (ABRI) seem to be too busy discussing the
procedures to elect a new board of directors and commissioners
while not showing the slightest interest in either:

1. trying to prosecute the previous directors and recover stolen
company assets;

2. trying to institute a new set of procedures so that the whole
tawdry mess won't be repeated under the new board of directors.

It is no wonder that the whole system eventually collapsed
when the rest of corporate Indonesia followed the example set by
its leaders.

DAVID SINCLAIR

Yogyakarta