Monetary crisis donation

Monetary crisis donation

From Kompas

We are now in 1998, which is a year of monetary crisis. The
crisis, which, in fact, began to be felt in July 1997, has
affected not only business sectors financed by U.S. dollar loans
but also free-lance workers and the logistics sector of
households.

The government is now unusually confused seeing that millions
will be jobless as a result of the crisis, private sector and
government offshore loans are large and swelling, and small and
medium-sized companies are likely to go bankrupt although these
companies themselves are financially sound (the multiplier effect
or the supplier effect).

"Right or wrong, good or bad, our country." Who else but we,
the people, can help this country get out of its crisis? Just
forget who, what or which sector contributes considerably to this
crisis or who, instead, is fishing in murky waters because strong
waves are going to hit this country.

Nationalism is no longer not hunting for U.S. dollars as
domestic speculators. At this juncture, nationalism is an earnest
and honest intention to do one's best to help this country get
out of its crisis.

I have a suggestion. Why don't we start a "Monetary Crisis
Fund" so that anybody can voluntarily donate any amount to help
the government overcome its trouble in this crisis. Assuming that
100 million people donate Rp 5,000 each, then Rp 500 billion can
easily be collected, This can later be used for the establishment
of labor-intensive projects to give work to people who have
become jobless because of this recession, or to augment the
state's foreign exchange reserves and so forth, depending on the
government's priority scale.

I am sure that such an effort would show the outside world
that in an effort to help the recovery of the country's economy
all members of Indonesian society are serious and willing to
sacrifice and that the relationship involving the people, the
community and the private sector is solid.

A similar thing was once done in Japan when every Japanese
family bought shares in state-owned companies to help the country
overcome financial difficulties. As for its implementation, the
mass media can coordinate this effort, just as they do with
donations for victims of natural disasters, and in view of the
national scale involved, the ministry of finance can manage this
undertaking transparently and report it to the public.

DRG. TA TATAG UTOMO

Jakarta