Kwik vows to push economic team to meet IMF deadline

Kwik vows to push economic team to meet IMF deadline

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance
and Industry Kwik Kian Gie vowed on Tuesday he would work to
ensure there would be no more delays in the implementation of the
IMF-sponsored economic reform programs.

But Kwik added he could not fully guarantee his new economic
team would be able to meet future IMF deadlines.

"There's no guarantee, but I will work hard so that there will
be no more delays," Kwik said during a seminar on the economy.

"We're dealing with people here, it's different with
mathematics or chemistry," he pointed out.

But Kwik said he was optimistic the country's new economic
team would be able to implement the new economic measures to be
signed with the IMF, particularly because he had gained
experience in implementing past programs.

The government was lambasted for its failure to meet a March
31 deadline to implement several economic measures agreed to with
the IMF in a letter of intent signed in January. The delay
prompted the IMF to postpone the disbursement of its loan to the
country.

The government claims it was able to complete the
implementation of the majority of the crucial programs by the new
deadline of April 21.

Kwik said delays in the implementation of the reforms was
partly the result of the sluggish bureaucratic system, which was
inherited from the administration of former president Soeharto.

"I have to deal with a bureaucratic system that has been
corrupt and inefficient for 32 years," he said.

The slow progress in implementing the economic measures
apparently disappointed President Abdurrahman Wahid, who
dismissed on Monday State Minister of Investment and State
Enterprises Development Laksamana Sukardi and Minister of Trade
and Industry Yusuf Kalla.

Laksamana was replaced by his secretary-general, Rozy Munir,
while Kalla's post was filled by Lt. Gen. Luhut Panjaitan, who is
currently the ambassador to Singapore.

Many analysts have expressed concern with the capabilities of
the new economic ministers, and experts have doubted whether they
will improve the Cabinet's performance in resolving the country's
economic woes.

The dismissal of the two senior ministers had been rumored in
Jakarta for quite some time. Kwik's position in the Cabinet was
also rumored to be in jeopardy.

Kwik said he was prepared if Abdurrahman chose to dismiss him,
because reshuffling the Cabinet was the prerogative of the
President.

Kwik declined to comment on the dismissal of the two
ministers, particularly the replacement of Laksamana, his
colleague at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), which won last June's general election but failed to
bring its chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri to the presidency.

"It's better for me not to comment, at least until I meet with
Gus Dur," he said, referring to the President by his nickname.

Separately, Arif Arryman of the ECONIT consultancy group said
during a seminar the replacement of Laksamana and Kalla was a
move by the President to place his own people in the Cabinet in a
bid to create a more effective administration.

Rozy is an executive at the National Awakening Party (PKB),
which was cofounded by Abdurrahman, and Luhut is a friend of the
President.

But Arif was skeptical about the new ministers' ability to
improve the performance of the Cabinet's economic team.

He pointed out that the financial market reacted negatively to
the Cabinet reshuffle. Arif said Abdurrahman should have placed
people not associated with any political parties in senior
economic minister positions to gain credibility.

He said the role of the economic ministers was crucial in
bargaining with the IMF in designing and implementing economic
reform programs.

Arif said Indonesia lagged behind other crisis-hit Asian
nations in its recovery efforts because of the economic
ministers' lack of ability to bargain with the IMF.

"The IMF is flexible, but we need a strong economic team to be
able to take advantage of that flexibility."

Indonesia has been cooperating with the IMF since November
1997, and the fund is sponsoring the country's economic reform
measures. (rei)