Mega's risk government by making dubious decisions
Mega's risk government by making dubious decisions
Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
korpur@yahoo.com
President Megawati Soekarnoputri deserves an award from the
Semarang-based Museum of Indonesian Records (Muri). She is the
only one among Indonesia's five presidents who has the guts to
make a "suicidal" decision by simultaneously raising the price of
fuel and the utility tariffs.
When the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997, Soeharto
showed his solidarity with those who could not afford to eat rice
and instead subsisted on tiwul, a traditional Javanese staple
food made of cassava, and suffered diarrhea from eating it
himself.
Megawati showed her own style in asking for the nation's self-
sacrifice: She spent New Year's Eve in Bali, and then returned to
the capital to tell the nation to be mature and to be independent
of any subsidies.
Just one day after receiving advice from her husband Taufik
Kiemas that she "does not amount to anything without the support
of the people," and enjoying a slice of Taufik's one-meter-tall
cake during his 60th birthday celebration in Bali, President
Megawati presented a shocking New Year's gift for the nation: A
triple price hike.
The President urged the nation to sacrifice themselves for
their own future glory. Her decision to lift the subsidies, of
course, will make her the golden girl of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, because the two world
bodies have campaigned for a long time to scrap all kinds of
subsidies from the state budget.
Megawati is confident that her economic policy is on the right
track and that the government's policies so far have shown
impressive progress. "We have been able to stabilize the rupiah
exchange rate, lower the bank benchmark, and prevent fluctuations
of prices," she said in her New Year's Eve state address.
For many, the new price hike policy is poison, but for the
President it is first-class honey -- initially bitter, it will
eventually lead the people to sweet prosperity.
According to her calculations, the bitterness will not last
more than one year. Before the 2004 general elections, she
clearly hopes that the country's economy will start to grow
steadily. The voters will thank her and in turn, give her the
most wonderful of gifts: Elect her as their president.
But be warned: Do not underestimate her knowledge of the oil
and fuel business, as her family owns several gas stations in
Jakarta.
During Christmas Eve, Indonesian Muslims presented a memorable
gift for their Christian and Catholic compatriots by providing a
very peaceful atmosphere to celebrate Christmas. Balinese Hindus
received a touching consolation from all over the world after the
Oct. 12 terrorist attacks. The President herself gave to those of
Chinese-Indonesian descent a much-awaited gift: This year's Imlek
Chinese New Year, which will fall on Feb. 1, was declared a
national holiday for the first time in 35 years.
However, the recipients of her most gracious New Year's gift
of all was not the country's 220 million population, but a few
problematic conglomerates such as Sudono Salim and Soeharto's
relative Sudwikatmono. Through her "release and discharge"
program, the President pardoned their past banking crimes without
trial, although they had stolen trillions of rupiah from state
coffers.
The conclusion drawn by a noodle vendor about Megawati's
decisions to first pardon the conglomerates and then raise prices
and tariffs, may anger Cabinet ministers: "By increasing the
tariffs, the President can get fresh money to compensate the
money stolen by the wretched bankers," said Mang Kosim, whose
small kiosk was ransacked by East Jakarta officials on New Year's
Eve.
The vendor, like many other Indonesians, is confused as to why
the government cannot provide cheap fuel and oil, even with the
country's status as an oil exporter. Senior economist Sjahrir
described Megawati's policy as a legal and rational policy that
breaks the people's trust.
In convincing the people the reasons for issuing such a
policy, Megawati's ministers simply repeated the arguments given
in the past by Soeharto's ministers.
First, they pointed out that fuel prices in Indonesia are
cheaper compared to prices in neighboring countries like
Singapore and Malaysia, while pretending to have forgotten that
the per capita income of the two countries is much higher than
that of Indonesia.
Second, they said that poor people would not be affected
because the government maintained a subsidy on kerosone. Again,
they pretended not to realize that kerosene is not the only need
of poor people.
"Poor people in Indonesia only spend 0.2 percent of their
incomes for fuel and electricity," Coordinating Minister for the
Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf
Kalla said confidently that poor people would not be affected by
the increase in premium gasoline prices. "It is not more than the
price of a stick of cigarette," Jusuf hinted.
Indonesian people are continually hurt by constant calls for
them to sacrifice in the name of development, while they are
aware of the fact that corruption at state-owned oil and gas
company Pertamina remains untouchable. There has been no follow-
up news about the investigations into questionable price mark-ups
during the construction of the Balongan oil refinery in
Indramayu, West Java. Corruption at state electricity firm PT PLN
also reportedly continues.
Of course, it is useless to expect Attorney General A.M.
Rachman to bring the corruptors to court, since he himself is
busy denying his own alleged corruption.
And then back to Megawati -- what if her policy fails?
Her husband has the answer: "Megawati has to prepare a
strategic and smart way to step down from the presidency."
For the sake of the nation, hopefully Indonesian Military
Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto is right in his hope that Megawati
would not follow her predecessors, who were forced to abdicate
their presidencies.
"We can't continue to have governments collapsing, can we?" he
said.