On the road to development
On the road to development
From Media Indonesia
After reading the article Pengalaman berkendaraan di AS (My
experience of driving in the U.S.) published in Media Indonesia
and other city newspapers some time ago, I would like to make the
following comments.
The writer seems to have forgotten that the United States has
been independent for more than 200 years, whereas Indonesia's
independence is just over 50 years old.
When the writer was in America, he often traveled from New
York to Washington DC, through New Jersey Turnpike and had to pay
an expensive toll fee. In fact, the length of the toll road is
similar to the distance between Tanjung Priok and Cilegon, West
Java.
Development in the United States is much easier than
development in Indonesia. In America, roads are essential because
interaction among the federal states is mainly done overland. But
to open the economic network in Indonesia, being an archipelago,
building roads is not enough. In addition, other infrastructure,
like harbors, must also be built.
If development focuses on road construction without paying
attention to the quality of human resources, it could result in a
disaster. For example, the existence of toll roads has been
followed by a large number of road accidents. This has resulted
from the low driving knowledge of the drivers.
With regards to armament, we do not need sophisticated
weapons, because we proved to the world that we were able to end
the 350 year Dutch colonization of Indonesia and the Japanese
occupation without the virtue of sophisticated armament.
With a per capita income of US$1000 and economic growth at 7
percent, the Indonesian nation has been able to build aircraft,
sea vessels, cars, weapons and other heavy industries, to
establish a stock exchange, mosques in America and Bosnia, and
also provide development funds for the regions throughout the
country and give assistance to countries devastated by natural
disaster. Do you think America could do the same when it was only
50 years old?
It is true some businesspeople complain about the taxes that
have to be paid. This is the very nature of a businessperson, to
reap large profits and pay as little tax as possible. Besides,
businesspeople should be proud of spending money on legal things,
and should be aware that their money is used for the provision of
roads and bridges.
To do business in America is another story. The tax that must
be paid is neck-breaking, not to mention the "mafia" fee. To
convince the writer, I might advise him to try to open a business
in the U.S.
The government has managed the tax collection and allocated
the money to projects proportionally, and according to the scales
of priority, given due attention to the development of education
and culture in all aspects -- moral, mental as well as physical.
DIRGO D PURBO
Jakarta