President predicts improvement in 2001

President predicts improvement in 2001

JAKARTA (JP): After surviving a tough spell in 2000, President
Abdurrahman Wahid said on Sunday he believed the new year would
bring Indonesia more blessings, particularly on the economic
front.

"I look ahead to the future with guarded optimism that we will
soon overcome our infrastructure problems. The economy has begun
to revive and we will refine its rhythm in 2001," the President
said in a year-end speech broadcast nationwide.

"In my opinion, we will make big progress in the year 2001."

Gus Dur, as the President is better known, said his government
would improve the infrastructure, security, the bureaucracy and
tax regulations, as well as boosting exports, which will remain
the backbone of the economy as they have since the financial
crisis struck in 1997.

The President said the economic crisis had shifted the
government's priority from seeking foreign investment to
enhancing export volume and value.

The country's total exports reached US$50 billion in 2000,
surpassing the projected $38 billion.

Security fears have been blamed for sluggish foreign
investment in the country, which saw continued violence in Aceh
and the Malukus, as well as sporadic clashes in other
territories. Bomb attacks in nine cities across the archipelago
on Christmas Eve dealt the nation its latest blow.

But the President insisted more foreign investors would pour
into the country and there were rays of hope seen. These include
Kuwait's interest in investing in off-shore oil exploration on
Seram island in Maluku, and Malaysia's investment in palm oil
plantations.

The upward revision of economic growth for 2000 from between 3
percent and 4 percent to up to 5 percent has encouraged the
government of brighter prospects, the President said.

To support the efforts to achieve the country's goals,
Abdurrahman pledged to promote information technology in remote
areas.

"The technology will be applied in a rational way, by not
pushing for an exaggerated use of computers because this will
touch only a small percentage of the people in the country," he
said.

The government, he said, will instead rely on telephones and
televisions to bring information technology to as many people as
possible across the archipelago, which is home to 210 million
people, making it the world's fourth most populous country.

Abdurrahman said that without ignoring the importance of the
English language, information technology would be transmitted in
Bahasa Indonesia to maintain national identity in the wake of
globalization and the implementation of regional autonomy.

"Due to the greater autonomy and the transfer of authority
from the central government to local governments, there will be a
tendency to restrict key administrative positions to natives.
This regionalism trend should be compensated for by strengthening
national identity through the use of Bahasa Indonesia," the
President said.

On disintegration threats, Abdurrahman expressed optimism that
security problems in Aceh, Irian Jaya, also known as Papua, and
the Malukus would be resolved.

The President said the process of settling these problems "is
reaching its final stage" through negotiations between
Indonesians, without foreign mediation.

"Our Papuan friends, including those who are undergoing police
investigation, will complete the negotiations with us in the near
future," he said.

He also asserted the majority of the separatist rebels in Aceh
had shown interest in continuing peace talks.

"They are all our brothers, of one nation, not other people. I
believe they will go to the negotiating table and reach an
agreement with us." (byg/amd)