Legislators warn Megawati of bumpy road ahead

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators welcomed President Megawati Soekarnoputri's progress report on Thursday, delivered on the day of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Annual Session, but they reminded the government of the tough job that lies ahead.

"The speech was comprehensive and refreshing as it contained detailed facts and figures on our economic condition," MPR speaker Amien Rais told reporters on Thursday.

"It was comprehensive and included data on exports, imports, labor and state-owned enterprises," he added.

However, Amien said that they were only numbers and harder efforts by the government to make further improvement was needed in the future.

Theo L. Sambuaga of the Golkar Party said the government had yet to produce concrete results during its three-month old tenure. However, Theo found it understandable given the limited time the government has had.

"The President has informed us about what the government has done to deal with the situation.

"It's not much really, but what's more important is that the government has identified, in a comprehensive manner, what the problems are and what programs, in various sectors, have been set up to tackle them," Theo said.

Aberson Sihaloho of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while admitting that he had no objection to the President's speech, also cautioned that the country's economic recovery did not rely entirely on the government.

"It's impossible for the government to get the country out of the crisis all by itself. They need help too.

"That's why we're here, so that the government and legislators can set up a formula to work together and solve the problems," he said.

Legislators of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Ali Masjkur and Yusuf Muhammad cited the report as mere rhetoric, which did not contain any real action to try to deal with the current situation.

"It's only words, but no real action has been carried out so far. Law enforcement for example, what they have done to bring all those corrupt people to justice? Nothing so far," Yusuf claimed.

A analyst, Imam Prasodjo, said the progress report contained a new subtle distinction as it showed that the new government had focussed more attention on social matters rather than political ones.

"The way I see it, the government's awareness of social affairs is greater than on political problems. It's not what it used to be," he told reporters.

President Megawati addressed on Thursday her first presidential progress report before the Assembly, the country's highest legislative body.

In her speech, the President revealed that the country was now facing an even grimmer economic outlook as a result of unfortunate conditions, both internal and external.

The world now seems likely to be heading toward a full-blown recession as the world's major economies, the U.S. and Japan, were having a hard time propping up their own economic performance.

Things then went from bad to worse with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

The Annual Session, slated to last until Nov. 10 and attended by 549 of the 700-member Assembly, will discuss a number of draft resolutions, including the amendment of the 1945 Constitution.