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