Sale of the century: Indonesia

Sale of the century: Indonesia

By Donna K. Woodward

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): "For Sale: A group of tropical
islands. Rich variety of natural resources. Large reserves of
mineral, oil and natural gas deposits. Tropical rainforests,
botanical and zoological species, and maritime resources with
immeasurable untapped potential."

"Land areas of varying sizes and varying degrees of
urbanization. Large, eager-to-work population that values
education. No external military or political enemies.

"Liabilities include: approximately US$80 billion in public
debt; lack of supporting infrastructure; and several regions with
populations suffering a high frequency of Human-Rights-Abuse
syndrome.

"Population with freehold interests eagerly seeking new
management team with a demonstrated respect for ethnic and
religious differences and success in initiating labor-intensive,
environmentally friendly development programs in the context of
fair labor practices."

The idea that Indonesia might be touted for sale like a used
car is one that would outrage any Indonesian. A country is more
than a commodity.

But if President Abdurrahman Wahid's administration does not
soon get its act together, for all practical purposes, Indonesia
may cease to belong to Indonesians. National policy will be
dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Factories and businesses will be owned by foreign investors or
foreign financial institutions. Future domestic income will be
owed to international lenders. Aceh and West Papua will belong to
themselves. And Indonesia's greatest intangible asset, her human
talent, may be lost to the international brain drain toward
Singapore, Australia and the United States.

Indonesia's assets far outweigh her liabilities, as is obvious
from the hypothetical advertisement above. But this could change.

If the nation's trustees -- led by the President -- do not
take steps to minimize human, environmental and financial losses
and optimize orderly development of the country's assets, they
might be better off preparing to sell the country to the Sultan
of Brunei or Singapore or George Soros before the country's
assets are squandered.

The environment is being depleted daily, workers are being
wasted, the young are growing up malnourished and undereducated
and the national debt grows.

Yet Abdurrahman seems insensitive to the country's state of
crisis. Instead of facing the problems at home, he continues to
indulge in expensive foreign escapism.

Meanwhile, subordinate branches of government ignore his
directives. Either the President is unable to formulate and
communicate his objectives effectively, or people no longer take
him seriously.

Run-amok militia and criminal soldiers. Non-performing IBRA
directors. Ineffectual police. Confused prosecutors. Raging
corruption. Absence of investor confidence. The Soehartos. No
president could be expected to solve all these problems quickly.

But President Abdurrahman Wahid has been not even been able to
set a course for the country. The President is not a stupid man.
He is not deficient in intelligence or character. He loves his
country. He is not greedily corrupt like some officials. Yet he
is failing. A descent into lawlessness and reversion to
authoritarianism are specters on the horizon.

Indonesia is clearly a nation in crisis.

Like a woman contemplating the life-saving removal of a
cancerous breast, or a man facing the amputation of a mangled,
useless limb, Indonesia's leaders no longer have the luxury of
refusing elective surgery. Indonesia is critically ill.

No one likes to contemplate drastic action, but President
Abdurrahman Wahid must now take extreme nation-saving steps.

The President has been quite daring in proposing creative but
unpopular measures such as trade relations with Israel, when he
believed these to be in the national interest. Let him be
similarly courageous in taking reform steps to save the economy,
the legal system and political institutions -- however unpopular
these steps may be at first among the political elite.

The President cannot afford to let his instincts for creative
leadership be sabotaged by a fear of pseudo-nationalistic
reactions from political opportunists who lie in wait to replace
him.

There are numerous national crises that have not responded to
status-quo oriented solutions. Problems like separatist violence,
corruption and debt, call for new and possibly extreme curative
measures.

As an example, consider separatism and regional violence. If
the President continues to intone the old, ineffectual
prohibitions -- "No demands for independence allowed!" -- these
incantations are likely to remain as background noises to the
ongoing killings that fuel the fires of separatism.

Regional autonomy, union within a unitary state and
independence are not the only models for cooperation;
federalism, confederation, a commonwealth form or some hybrid of
these might be considered.

The President and the country need to begin to "think outside
the boxes" and not fear unconventional treatments for the
problems that face the country. The longer the President waits to
take decisive reform action, the more critical the problems
become and the more extreme the remedial actions will need to be.

If the President waits too long, tomorrow's remedies could
become as debilitating to the country as today's problems are.

The writer, an attorney and former American diplomat at the
U.S. Consulate General in Medan, is president director of PT Far
Horizons management consultancy.