'Only a few people enjoy benefit of foreign debt'

The country's foreign debt has reached close to US$77 billion but in the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) forum being held until Thursday, more loans are being sought from donors. The Jakarta Post asked people for their impressions on how the government was spending the money.

Albert, 25, is an activist with the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi). He is single and lives in Mampang, South Jakarta:

The government should stop its bad habit of continuously asking for new loans from foreign countries. It must be stopped before its too late. The debt is already huge. Indonesia is a rich country and its natural resources alone could provide most people with a decent livelihood.

To make things worse, the government does not improve the people's welfare with the money. It is misused by a great number of state officials. As a result, widespread poverty is not alleviated while the officials get richer.

Alfian, 32, a resident of Kapuk Muara. His house burned down last Sunday:

We are born already burdened with the country's foreign debt. Sometimes the debt is used for development and the public enjoys the benefit of projects, such as the development of roads.

However, I still feel that only a few of people really gain from the resources. As for the poor, we get almost nothing. Even the development of roads is meaningless to us as we don't own any vehicles.

To be honest, I don't feel like I benefit from the loans at all.

Terry, 34, works at a non-governmental organization in Central Jakarta. She lives with her husband and newborn son in South Jakarta:

The government projects using foreign loans remain unclear. Everyone is at a loss about the distribution and control of the funds. Moreover, there are conditions like corruption eradication that come with the money, which makes us even more dependent on, and accountable to, the donor countries.

Many commentators agree that the CGI is better than IMF, but I think at the end of the day, they are essentially the same.

The government only seems to focus on physical development such as roads, malls and so on, all of which eventually boost consumerism.

--The Jakarta Post