Salt thrown into the ocean

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