RI not strong enough to lead SE Asia: Expert
RI not strong enough to lead SE Asia: Expert
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has lost its chance to emerge as Southeast Asia's natural leader because it has been unable to develop a healthy economy, an observer said yesterday.
Lie Tek Tjeng said that although the Indonesian economy has been growing rapidly, it is unstable and plagued with monopolies and uneven income distribution.
"Indonesia's potential to become the leader in Southeast Asia has not properly developed," Lie said at a hearing with the House commission I for foreign affairs and security.
The hearing that focused on the latest global political developments also featured Lt. Gen. (ret) A. Hasnan Habib, a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States and a military strategist.
Lie, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said Indonesia could become one of the major powers in the Asia-Pacific rim if the country's economy is strong.
"We have a role to play, but we don't have the economic might to support it," said the expert on Chinese affairs.
Meanwhile, China is becoming a major power in the Asia-Pacific region because it has been able to pull all of its resources together to develop its economy, he said.
Indonesia has taken a leading role in regional political and economic affairs through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is comprised of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
This role is natural because of Indonesia's size and population of more than 190 million. Although it is rich in natural resources, its economic performance trails Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei, and is just slightly ahead of the Philippines.
Dependence
One of Indonesia's weaknesses, Lie noted, is its heavy dependence on foreign capital and aid.
Indonesia, he said, has been keeping its western donors wondering when it will become financially independent after decades of reliance on their assistance.
Dutch people facetiously liken Indonesia's inability to keep and manage the assistance to a "bottomless keg", he said.
Lie, a naturalized Chinese, lamented the common fatalistic belief that indigenous Indonesians have no talent to do business like the Chinese who have lived here for generations.
"In fact, many native Indonesians have tremendous talent to do business if they were given the chance," he said.
He said the Indonesian political elite's way of thinking follows that of the Dutch colonial administrators as far as treatment of Indonesians of Chinese descent is concerned.
Their access to employment in the public sector remains very much restricted and doing business is about the only choice left for them to make a living.
"But when they are successful, they become targets of social envy and people think they are free to throw stones at their shops," he said.
He underlined the importance for Indonesia to improve the quality of its human resources so that the nation can make the best of its abundant natural resources.
Lie recounted the day when a Japanese acquaintance jokingly told him what would happen if Japanese and Indonesians could trade places. All the Japanese would wear nothing but trunks and leave their wealth behind and Indonesians could leave for Japan with everything they are able to carry.
"Then my Japanese acquaintance said 'I am sure the Japanese in Indonesia would be richer than Indonesians in Japan after a few years'," Lie said to the laughter of House members. (pan)