Salt thrown into the ocean

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has come again, but nothing has changed. They came with an empty bag. And in its meeting with President Abdurrahman Wahid, not a single promise was made by the IMF.

The relationship between Indonesia and the IMF has entered a time of uncertainty. Whenever the time comes for its next loan tranche to be disbursed, the IMF prolongs the delay and the money remains wanting.

If we want to be honest with ourselves, we would see why the IMF keeps coming without the money: it is because our government is still the same. The IMF and the Abdurrahman Wahid government are singing the same song, although for disparate purposes. The President is singing to stay in power while the IMF is singing to guard its money.

Given this stance on the part of the IMF, it is natural for us to deduce that the IMF is stalling to see what will happen to the President after the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly. To disburse the money now, with the government in its present precarious position, would be like throwing salt into the ocean.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta