'Love rupiah' drive (2)

From Merdeka

I welcome the "Love rupiah" drive despite the half-hearted and symbolic impression it generates. The business tycoons who were expected to come with huge amounts of dollars to be changed into rupiah, have so far only brought tens or hundreds of thousands dollars, a maximum of one million.

Certainly it has not given the optimum psychological effect, but the intention is there. The reason is that the depreciation of the rupiah against the dollar is very serious. We pray that there will be more sacrifices and that the "Love rupiah" drive will find more enthusiastic support, like similar campaigns in South Korea and Thailand.

To overcome the crisis I am more convinced by a proposal made by Hartojo Wignjowijoto, a former IMF consultant who knows the inner workings of the organization. He says that the only way to save the rupiah, after the IMF runs out of funds, is by the freezing and the withdrawal of funds deposited abroad by our own people to the tune of 60 billion dollars. A smaller amount would already serve the purpose (Merdeka, Jan. 13). From a quantitative viewpoint, I am sure that the withdrawal of the billions of dollars deposited abroad will be more effective and energy-saving than the "Love rupiah" drive yielding several millions at the most.

Indonesia is replete with anomalies indeed. Last Monday, on the same day as the heralding of the "Love rupiah" campaign by high-ranking government officials and big businessmen in the Bank Indonesia building, it was reported that the rupiah was weakening by 450 points. Did the selling of dollars result in a fall in the dollar price and subsequently in dollar buying? The "Love rupiah" drive should not be comparable to amassing meat to be snatched away by tigers.

People with deposits abroad should be scrutinized for amassing dollars. I think by taking firm measures against hoarders who are behind the scarcity of dollars, the government's image can be restored. The people are in support of the action.

The government should not create injustice by penalizing staple food hoarders while taking no steps against dollar hoarders.

KUNCORO

Bandung, West Java