Indonesia told to learn from Indian elections

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government should learn from last week's dramatic defeat of India's Congress (I) party, growing economic disparities in China and discord within Malaysia's ruling UMNO party, a scholar said Saturday.

Dorojatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, a well-known economist from the University of Indonesia, said the three cases are good examples of the side effects to development that are also happening in Indonesia.

"I'm not saying that Indonesia will experience exactly the same problems only that we have to be ready for them," said Dorojatun, dean of the university's school of economics.

From last week's elections in India you can see that even a century-old party that has been dominant since 1947 can be defeated. It should make the government and the ruling Golkar party think hard, said the professor.

"Indonesia's rapid development is truly a miraculous phenomenon. But we cannot ignore the fact that it has also caused economic disparities," explained the Berkeley trained scholar.

He warned that if Indonesia does not do enough to develop its eastern provinces, such as Irian Jaya, Maluku and East Timor, economic disparities will linger on.

In China, he said economic disparities have hampered its development efforts.

"Now, it is up to us whether to take it as a lesson or not," commented Dorojatun. "I remind you that we cannot be sovereign, united and prosperous if we do not uphold fairness in development policies."

Dorojatun yesterday addressed a seminar held in connection with the university's writing contest on economics in Indonesia. Held by the school's student senate, the contest offers one of the university's most prestigious awards.

In the discussion Dorojatun also stressed that the world is entering the free trade era. "It's inevitable. The developments in technology have made the world borderless and has supported free trade," said Dorojatun.

"We cannot escape from this era because of two reasons: the progress of technology and the historical fact that free trade has been painstakingly planned," he said.

Dorojatun urged the government to abandon its centralistic policy making and give more autonomy to local governments in the regions.

On the same discussion, economist Jan Hoesada stressed that 1997 will usher in Indonesia's moment of truth in facing the free trade era.

"The moment of truth is in 1997. If we cannot improve our competitiveness, we will be bashed by free trade," said Hoesada, who is a prominent accountant and market strategist.

"The most important thing today is obtaining a competitive advantage," Hoesada added. (06)