Learn From Habibie's Administration
Kerosene is scarce. People in various regions have to queue to obtain it. Some have even fainted while doing so. It takes them quite a long time to get only a few liters of kerosene. Still, many others have failed to get any.
In 2001, Indonesia's economic growth at 3.5 percent was the highest in Southeast Asia. This figure has aroused optimism among policy makers.
The scarcity of kerosene has disturbed the public peace and, again, victimized the ordinary people.
The government took the right measures when it instructed the state-owned oil company (Pertamina) to launch market operations to sell kerosene directly to the consumers.
For a while, the kerosene crisis can certainly be controlled. But, in the long term, unless the root cause is removed, kerosene supplies will continue to be troublesome. The root cause of that problem is that the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar is very low. With the current exchange rate of Rp 10,000 against the US dollar, there will be a price disparity between prices in the domestic market and those overseas. This will cause many unfavorable conditions and cannot prevent the local price of kerosene from increasing. Monetary difficulties have also spurred the hike in electricity, telephone and fuel prices. This hike will continue for quite some time in future.
If we truly care about the ongoing situation, we should take action to remove the source of the problem, namely monetary difficulties. The government has to seriously strengthen the value of rupiah. If the government can work this out, people need not have to shoulder an increasing burden in their lives. The extraordinarily great difficulty small-scale fishermen are experiencing to obtain diesel oil for their boats is one of consequences of the rupiah's drop in value.
In this case, the administration of Megawati should be humble enough to learn from the administration of Habibie. His administration proved that it was able to strengthen the rupiah value from about Rp 16,000 to Rp 6,700 against the US dollar even though it was shaken politically. The military did not fully support it at that time. With the great political support the government now enjoys, the administration of Megawati should be able to act more firmly and do more.
-- Republika, Jakarta