NGOs file civil lawsuit against govt's pro-IMF policies

NGOs file civil lawsuit against govt's pro-IMF policies

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Three non-governmental organizations filed a lawsuit against
President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday at the Central
Jakarta District Court for issuing Presidential Instruction No.
5/2003 on an economic policy package with International Monetary
Fund (IMF) monitoring.

In their suit, the plaintiffs -- the Indonesian Debt Watch
Foundation (DWI), the Indonesian Independent Network of Civil
Society for Development Transparency and Accountability (JARI)
and the Jakarta Citizens Forum (Fakta) -- argued that by issuing
the presidential instruction, Megawati had violated the People's
Consultative Assembly Decree No. VI/2002, which mandates the
government to end all agreements with the IMF by the end of 2003.

"The instruction can also be considered deception of the
public as it is essentially another agreement with the IMF
without consent from the House of Representatives," said head of
DWI, Arimbi Heroepoetri.

She said their main concern was that because of the
presidential instruction, providing the legal basis for
Indonesia's post-IMF monitoring program with the Fund, the
government had neglected the people's welfare and handed over the
country's economy to "neoliberal forces" by continuing its
relationship with the IMF.

According to the plaintiffs, the IMF's structural adjustment
programs, which include strict budgeting policies, good
governance, anticorruption measures, liberalization of the
monetary and trade sector and privatization of several ailing,
inefficient state companies had worsened the country's economic
condition and social welfare, as evidenced by the increase in
state debt, the increased unemployment and further destitution of
farmers and other workers.

The plaintiffs also said the economic recovery programs hurt
the general public. They said the people have seen their
subsidies cut in order to pay off the country's debts to foreign
governments and agencies.

"Is it fair to the public when the debts of mismanaged private
companies become state debts?" Arimbi added.

In their primary plea for the case, the plaintiffs requested
the court to declare Megawati guilty of violating the law by
issuing the presidential instruction.

They also demanded the court to annul the instruction and
order her to comply with the Assembly's decree in drafting
economic policies favoring public social welfare in accordance
with the Constitution without the involvement of the IMF.

Megawati must also publicly apologize to the Indonesian people
and pay compensation of Rp 166.75 million (US$19,851) for the
plaintiffs' expenses in filing the suit as well as the court's
administrative fees, if found guilty.

In their subsidiary plea, the plaintiffs said that if the
court had a different legal opinion about the case, it should
still consider the public's sense of justice, known by the Latin
legal terms ex aequo et bono.

A member of the plaintiffs' legal counsel team, Tubagus Haryo
Karbyanto, said that after filing the lawsuit, it usually took
three to four weeks before the court finally announced whether
the case would go to trial or not.

"The court has to legally verify the suit and appoint a panel
of judges for the case first," he said.