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.