Rethinking our development strategy

The national economy is sliding ever deeper into an abyss filled with difficulties. It is proving very difficult to turn the tide or control the pace of the fall. All this is happening because those who have the power to do so are not united in their resolve to overcome the difficulties.

It is our hope that those parties will be able to put themselves in the place of the people who have lost their jobs or for other reasons cannot afford to buy the most necessary of commodities.

A seminar was held by this newspaper on Tuesday to discuss the matter of bringing about reform in the economic, legal and political fields. One important message that emerged was that it was necessary that the energy of the whole nation -- including business, the community at large and the government -- needed to be combined. Our ship of state is reeling under a storm and may be wrecked at any time. Sharpening the differences that exist between us only worsens the danger.

The seminar which was attended by entrepreneurs, government officials, economists and also politicians also concluded that what was needed was not only that we make the right economic and political moves, but also that we show some adroitness in exploiting the opportunities which the current crisis offers. We must no longer orient ourselves toward the past. We must discontinue our feudalistic lifestyles and cast off our mentality of relying on facilities to promote our business.

Amid the current difficulties, we must also rethink our development strategy and return to using the potential that we have abandoned: agriculture and its various related sectors. Obviously, there will be people who will try to bar such a change of strategy. However, reality has shown us that the development strategy that we have been following so far has not done us much good.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta