Kalla says priorities will be economy, law, education

Kalla says priorities will be economy, law, education

In an interview with The Jakarta Post's Ade Siboro and Kanis
Dursin on Friday, Jusuf Kalla, the running mate of presidential
candidate Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono discussed several
issues, including the pair's plans for the government should they
win the presidential runoff as expected on Monday, and his stance
on Indonesian-Chinese businesspeople. The following is an excerpt
of the interview.

Question: If you win on Monday, what will be your priority in
the first 100 days?

Answer: We will reorganize the government, decide on important
government positions like the attorney general, National Police
chief and excellent economic ministers. There will be three main
focal points: Good law enforcement, the restructuring of the
economy to ensure an immediate recovery with prudent economic
growth and education, which will include the principles to
improve the quality of our education.

Could you be more specific?

There are so many things to do. For instance how the attorney
general should handle all pending cases. Then economic matters,
like tax reform, the enforcement of our security institutions to
enable us to attract investment, how to create stability and
rejuvenate our infrastructure. Other priorities include how to
accelerate the efficiency of our banking system and to lower
interest rates. Our concern will also be on our school budget and
how to build up our schools.

How about the composition of the Cabinet?

For any policy, it requires well-running ministers and
ministries, which according to the law, must include ministers
for finance, trade and mining, in addition to home affairs and
foreign affairs. There will be at least 20 ministries. I think in
principle the next Cabinet will not be so different from the
existing one.

Who will be the members of your Cabinet?

First, believe me, the ministers will be chosen based on
general requirements. First he/she must have the capability in
his/her field, leadership and honesty. They should have the
ability and be acceptable to others. They can be professionals or
politicians. Although there are dozens of names, we continue to
evaluate their background and capability. At this point, however
we have not made any decision. We'll wait until after Sept. 20.
We still have at least a month. The swearing-in will be held on
Oct. 20, so we still have time.

How about economic portfolios?

What we have are still basic principles, we still do not have
any names. The public can propose their candidates to us. We can
consider them.

What is your strategy to overcome potential problems in the
House of Representatives due the small number of the Democratic
Party (Susilo's party) legislators?

Together with our political partners we can control about 40
percent of the House, including the Prosperous Justice Party
(PKS), National Mandate Party (PAN) and National Awakening Party
(PKB). However, it is no problem if we can not reach a majority.
We will be a government that depends on (and has a mandate) from
the people. How about the House and the relationship with the
government? The House has its task of legislation, along with the
government. When it is uncooperative with the government then it
becomes unconstitutional. If our budget proposals are not
approved by the House, we can use the previous budget. When the
House is controlled by the opposition, then we will have a good
check and balance system.

What is your reaction to rumors that you are against Chinese-
Indonesian businesspeople?

These are just rumors. But the principle is this. A country
should not have a gap (between large business) and small
entrepreneurs. There should be an effort to boost the economic
quality of small entrepreneurs, affirmative action is needed,
whether in the form of cheap loans or protective mechanisms for
small businesses. Don't misunderstand this policy and see it as
anti-Chinese. This is not a matter of Chinese or not Chinese.
However, when there are Chinese-Indonesian small-scale
entrepreneurs who need help, we will help them.

What standard would you use to determine the poor and the
rich?

We have certain standards, there is a minimum wage. But what
is important is about small-scale businesses, vendors, in the
market, or agriculture. They are small-scale businesspeople. They
must get better assistance. Now it is the other way around. Big
businesses the bigger portion of loans, small businesses get
less, but with interest rates of more than 30 percent. We will
resolve this. This must be reversed, otherwise this country will
collapse when such injustices remain.

Any comment on Golkar's decision to fire you from the party?

(Some) of our friends in Golkar have returned to authoritarian
ways of thinking. It is very regrettable. They lecture on about
democracy, but they act dictatorially, and they do not tolerate
any difference of opinion.

By the way, have you prepared yourself for a possible loss on
Monday?

If we are prepared to win, we must also be prepared to lose.
There is nothing absolute in politics under our current
democratic atmosphere. Only Pak Harto (Soeharto) could have been
unprepared to lose.