Lawlessness will scare away business: Sofyan
JAKARTA (JP): Continuing reports of rampant looting and unlawful seizure of property and businesses of Chinese- Indonesians will cause more businesspeople to flee to safer shores and scare off foreign investors, a noted businessman has warned.
Chairman of the Gemala Group Sofyan Wanandi said here yesterday the government must step in to stop the lawlessness.
He cited the seizure of land belonging to real estate developers and plantation companies by people who argued it was sold at an unfair price, looting of warehouses, stealing of raw materials, theft of plantation harvests and takeovers of factories.
Disturbances have occurred nationwide.
"Inti Indorayon has had to stop operations because the road to the plant has been blocked by the trespassers," Sofyan told The Jakarta Post in one example of the business disruptions.
PT Inti Indorayon Utama is a publicly listed pulp manufacturer with a factory and timber estate concession in North Sumatra.
Widespread lawlessness has followed the May riots which forced president Soeharto to step down after 32 years in power.
"Without law and order there is no business certainty here. The government has to be resolute that this looting has to end," said Sofyan, who is also regarded as the informal spokesman for the Chinese-Indonesian business community.
He explained the lawlessness went unchecked because the government was weak, especially the state apparatus outside the capital, which lost its authoritative power after being branded as part of the Soeharto regime.
Sofyan said the jittery domestic environment had caused a loss of between US$10 billion and $20 billion in capital owned by Chinese-Indonesians.
There was also a brain drain as many young professionals -- about 10 percent of the nation's five million Chinese-Indonesians -- left.
"We need these talented and skillful human resources, especially to deal with the current economic crisis. We've spent a lot of money to educate these professionals overseas."
Human resources and capital were vital to lift the country out of the crisis, he said.
"The money from the IMF and other foreign donor institutions are being used for consumption purposes which will be exhausted in just a short period. But the money owned by the Chinese- Indonesian businesspeople can be used for investment which will create jobs."
The International Monetary Fund announced yesterday the disbursement of an additional $1 billion for Indonesia, bringing its total disbursement to $5 billion from its total commitment of $10 billion, the key part of a $43 billion bailout package it arranged.
Chinese-Indonesians, Sofyan said, were worried that rampant lawlessness would lead to a social revolution, with them as the prime target for reprisals.
"Over the past few years, the Chinese have always been the target of social rioting here. And they're afraid that they'll continue to be the target every time a public demonstration occurs. The May incident was really traumatic for them."
He urged President Habibie to invite the country's political leaders to reach a consensus on solving the problems.
"Please don't settle the matters on the street. We must be concerned about the suffering of the 200 million people."
He emphasized the country must solve lingering problems before the international community would return.
"Without law and order, I don't see any hope for Indonesia to come out of the crisis," he said. (rei)