Lawlessness will scare away business: Sofyan

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)