RI pledges support for cooperatives movement

RI pledges support for cooperatives movement

By Kornelius Purba

SINGAPORE (JP): Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri made her
first international performance here on Tuesday by acting as a
keynote speaker at the First International Cooperatives Alliance
Asia Pacific Forum at the Mandarin Hotel.

Openly acknowledging that she did not know much about the
latest development of cooperatives movement, Megawati said she
learned about the economic movement during her youth from the
country's founding fathers, her father first president Sukarno
and first vice president Mohammad Hatta.

"When I was young, I came to know what a cooperative was by
digesting the views of my late father, Sukarno," Megawati
recalled.

Megawati admitted that the progress of cooperatives in
Indonesia lagged far behind other countries in Asia Pacific due
to poor management and the government's excessive interference.

Learning from the previous government's mistakes, she said the
new government decided to support the cooperatives movement and
act only as a facilitator.

"It does not mean that the government does not lend a hand to
cooperatives. To a certain extent, the government will continue
to offer help regarding the internal problems of cooperatives,"
she said.

Unlike President Abdurrahman Wahid, who often delivers his
speeches off-the-cuff and offers opportunity for dialog, the Vice
President read a prepared speech in Indonesian language and there
was no dialog with the audience of about 300 attendees.

An English translation was distributed to the participants
only after she completed her speech, and no simultaneous
translation was provided for participants.

Megawati completed her three day-working visit to Singapore on
Tuesday and returned to Jakarta in the evening. Her small
entourage included her husband Taufiq Kiemas and State Minister
of Cooperatives Zarkasih Noer.

Neither Megawati nor her hosts, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong
and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, spoke to the press after their
meeting on Monday.

She said the main purpose of her visit was to follow up the
President's visit here last November.

"I am proud with this first foreign trip, although Singapore
is not far from Indonesia. But at least I eventually made it
true," she said with a big smile, during a meeting with about 300
from the Indonesian community at the Indonesian Embassy here on
Monday.