Siswono says crucial to end corruption in six months

Siswono says crucial to end corruption in six months

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has six months to eliminate
corruption from the administration or the nation could plunge
into chaos, a former cabinet minister said yesterday.

Siswono Yudohusodo, who served two five-year terms under
Soeharto until February, said that besides embezzlement and
collusive practices, the President should eliminate nepotism from
the administration completely.

"If he fails, the political and economic conditions could turn
for the worse," Siswono said at a discussion on the origins of
the economic crisis.

He said the President, who was reelected for a seventh five-
year term in March, had until about October to prove that he was
capable of resolving the current economic and political crisis.

The economic reform package negotiated with the International
Monetary Fund, he added, should be fully implemented to help
establish a clean government.

If there are no results in the coming months, students may
intensify their protests, more people could lose their jobs and
crime rates could increase, he said.

The fight against corruption, collusion and nepotism should
start from the very top, Siswono said.

The government, for example, should stop giving business
privileges to particular individuals or groups, he said.

The government not only needed the IMF's US$43 billion bailout
package but also the support from all the people to rebuild the
economy, he said.

Siswono, a real estate developer, was first recruited into the
cabinet in 1988 to serve as minister of public housing. In 1993
he was appointed minister of transmigration.

Although he has now resumed his business activities, his views
and analysis of the country's political and economic situations
are still widely sought.

Yesterday's discussion was organized by Yayasan Insan
Politika, a foundation at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.
Economist Faisal Basri was the other guest speaker.

Siswono said that what originally started as a financial
crisis had shifted into a crisis of confidence, one that put the
government's political legitimacy in doubt.

He said the crisis had its origins in the unfair political
system and government mismanagement which allowed corruption and
collusion to flourish.

He said the national development program of the past 30 years
had been wrong to focus solely on the economy, while ignoring
political and social development.

Siswono, who is a member of the People's Consultative
Assembly, said the way the country recruited its political
representatives should be changed to truly reflect the people's
aspirations.

He said that as a result of the current recruitment system,
all 1,000 Assembly members supported the reelection of the
President in March.

Public figures critical of the system, like Muhammadiyah
chairman Amien Rais who called for an alternative president, did
not sit in the Assembly, he said.

There should also be a limit on the number of terms a
president can serve, he added.

Siswono was skeptical over the current government policy to
stabilize the rupiah's exchange rate by keeping interest rates
very high, warning that the policy could plunge the nation into
an even deeper crisis.

"The rupiah has gained ground in the last few weeks because of
the high interest rates. This has weakened business activities
and fueled even higher inflation rates. The high inflation will,
in turn, cause the rupiah to fall again," he said. (rms)