'Love rupiah' drive (2)
'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