Sense of crisis lacking

Sense of crisis lacking

From Bisnis Indonesia

It is not quite wrong if a certain party suggested that the
government and the House of Representatives have not fully shown
a sense of crisis.

First, this lack of sense of crisis is evident in the
government's plan to allocate a gift of a house (or palace?)
worth Rp 26,500 billion to former president Soeharto. Second, the
government also plans to issue interest-free credit of Rp 40
million to House members to purchase a car.

If the government were sensitive enough in these times of
difficulties, even though there is a law which rules the
presentation of a gift to a former president, the government
should cancel the idea and should not include it in the 1998/1999
state budget.

Regarding the car credit facility, would it not be more
appropriate and strategic for the credit to be extended to small
businesses and cooperatives, or newly emerging entrepreneurs, so
that employment opportunities are made available for the jobless.

What lessons do we get from the above conditions? The answer
is clear: the "New Order mentality" still firmly persists in the
two institutions in which Golkar's influence is indisputably
dominant. So it is not surprising if the government finds it
extremely hard to gain the market's confidence.

AMIR KARAMOY

Jakarta