~Message from the Editor

~Message from the Editor

For a newspaper in Indonesia, passing the 20-year mark is a
historic milestone. The last 100 years have seen the launch and
closure -- by government decree or otherwise -- of hundreds of
newspapers across the country.

Although no statistics exist by which to measure the rate of
survival or life expectancy of a newspaper in Indonesia, the fact
is that only a handful have ever reached the age of 50, and not
one has reached the 100-year mark.

To celebrate this special anniversary, The Jakarta Post is
publishing an extra 24-page special supplement, which focuses on
the economy of this country in the near future.

There are many possibilities available when one tries to
envision the future. A start can be made, for example, with
scrutinizing the past and current liabilities, and then move on
to project the probabilities of assets within the constraints of
those liabilities.

Indonesia is not short of liabilities or constraints. All of
us can draw up a rather long list of weaknesses and threats in
terms of the economy, macro as well as micro.

The underlying multidimensional crisis, which was prompted by
the financial crisis in mid-1997, has not been resolved
adequately.

The fact, the country has had to deal with a revolving door of
three consecutive presidents in a span of less than five years,
which has not helped to alleviate the immense problem.

Indonesia has also been forced to muddle through consecutive
misfortunes: the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., the
ensuing Afghan war, the Bali bombings of last October, the
current Iraq war and, most recently, the SARS outbreak.

Dark clouds, as the saying goes, usually have some type silver
lining. And to every obstacle, one can usually find some answer
or solution, although it takes determination and focus.

This special supplement was prepared and produced with that
approach in mind. We solicited many contributors and experts from
different fields and backgrounds to provide their views. We
sincerely hope our readers will find their own silver lining
behind the dark clouds.

Raymond Toruan
Chief Editor