Rethinking our development strategy

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