Megawati, Soeharto call for thrifty lifestyle

Megawati, Soeharto call for thrifty lifestyle

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is not alone in her campaign
for thrifty lifestyle. Former president Soeharto, known for his
corrupt regime, had also campaigned for such lifestyles since the
very first year he became president.

The official campaign for thrifty lifestyles, nevertheless,
would not came into force until 1974 when Soeharto issued
Presidential Decree No. 10/1974.

The decree was issued apparently in response to the public's
outcry for the rampant corruption. In the very same year, the
country witnesses violent student protests in Jakarta, with
burning of Japanese vehicles.

The decree prohibited government officials from either taking
or giving any present; using luxurious cars as official cars;
visiting certain public establishments; staging grandiose party
for state institutions; and organizing lavish private parties.

The decision gave the political momentum for what was later
known as the Thrifty Live Movement.

Soon after the issuance of the presidential decree, the trade
minister promised to ban the imports of luxurious goods and
review the plan to assemble 2,000-cc sedans, the police conducted
operations to prevent luxurious cars from entering the country,
and commanders of the Armed Forces (now the Indonesian Military)
told their troops to be the role models for the movement.

The Thrifty Live Movement, however, lived shortly as it
existed only in the official's speeches, newspaper editorials and
religious sermons, but never in real life.

After the movement died down, Soeharto refreshed the campaign
in 1992 through another presidential decree, No. 47/1992.

Then state minister for administrative reform TB Silalahi even
went a long way of ensuring that those two presidential decrees
were followed by state officials by drafting the decrees'
implementation guidelines in the following year.

The guidelines provided detail list of things to be avoided by
public officials and state institutions, including giving or
receiving any gift, even a flower bouquet.

The thrifty lifestyle campaign, as expected, soon died down
especially after the country enjoyed strong growth and high
investment.

In 1998, when the economic crisis hit Indonesia hard, the
campaign made a brief return. Several high-ranking officials
urged the people to live frugally. Food should be boiled, instead
of being deep-fried to cut oil consumption.

The campaign was revived again during the initial period of
Megawati's administration.

State Minister for Administrative Reform Feisal Tamin issued
Ministerial Instruction No 357 on Measures for Efficiency and
Thrifty Lifestyle among State Officials.

Besides reiterating the spirit of the earlier two presidential
decrees, the ministerial instruction went further into petty
details.

The instruction, for instance, dictated that ordinary
correspondence and reports from state institutions must be typed
in Arial 12 letter-style, using 1.5 space, and on the cheap 70
gram paper.

It also instructed state officials to use water, phone and
electricity as efficient as possible.

Feisal Tamin also urged high-ranking officials to lead an
thrifty lifestyle by not wearing expensive suits, for instance.

His own attempt to give an example -- by using a Toyota Kijang
minivan as the minister's official car instead of the black Volvo
limousine -- once had made Feisal Tamin run into trouble, when
the presidential guards denied him entry to the palace.

Leading-by-example apparently was not a popular idea among
government officials, state legislators and the privileged
members of society in the country.

As the campaign apparently died down, Megawati refreshed it in
Bali earlier this month, when she told her faithful supporters to
run a thrifty lifestyle. The call, however, seems to hit a high
wall, as the first family themselves could not set as an example
in pursuing thrifty lifestyle.