Soeharto calls for nation's support

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is calling on the entire nation to throw its wholehearted support behind the government's efforts to overcome the economic crisis.

In his end-of-year speech televised nationwide Wednesday, the President described 1997 as a "disconcerting" year marked by various calamities.

"We are now undergoing a severe trial in the monetary and economic sectors.

"We are fighting with everything we have to get through this very difficult time.

"The government has already prepared many programs to deal with these upheavals, and these already have the support of the International Monetary Fund and other countries.

"The government is calling on all levels of the public, particularly the business community, to give their wholehearted support in carrying out these programs," Soeharto said.

"Let's all work hard and be orderly in our respective fields. Let's forge our unity and cohesion. Let's preserve national stability," he said.

The rupiah's freefall, from about Rp 2,400 to over Rp 5,000 to the dollar in the last six months, has plunged the economy to what many economists describe as the worst crisis in 30 years.

In October, the government secured more than US$40 billion in loans from the IMF, the World Bank and creditor nations, but these have failed to arrest the economic decline.

The government has also introduced various economic reform measures, such as the closure of 16 ailing banks. On Wednesday, it announced the merger of seven state banks into four.

On Tuesday, Soeharto is scheduled to unveil the government's spending plans for the year starting April 1. Analysts predict a very austere budget, possibly involving big cuts in spending.

Sacrifices

"In this disconcerting and difficult time, we have to make unpleasant decisions and measures. They may even be hurtful," Soeharto said, adding: "We are resolved to develop (the nation). We're willing to work hard. In order to be happy, we must be prepared to make sacrifices."

"At times like these, we rely on the national unity and cohesion imbued by Pancasila values," he said.

Soeharto pointed out that Indonesia was not alone in its trouble. Many neighboring Asian countries are also experiencing difficulties, and fellow members in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum are working together to find a way out of the predicament.

The President said Indonesia had learned from the experience and the nation should be prepared to seize opportunities that lie ahead.

"Let's hope that in 1998 we will be able to get out of the predicaments that we faced in 1997."

Unlike in his previous yearend address, the President did not give any of the latest economic indicators to close the year, particularly the inflation rate.

There was no official explanation for the omission.

The government has said that inflation in the first 11 months of 1997 has exceeded 9 percent.

Looking back at 1997, Soeharto underscored the natural disasters, widespread forest fires, prolonged drought, accidents on land, and in the air and the sea, and the economic crisis.

It was also a year filled with social and political upheavals, he said, in an apparent reference to riots prior to the May general election.

He said some of these upheavals were positive because they were part of the dynamic forces at work in society. "We must be vigilant toward the negative forces," he added.

Some of the upheavals were a consequence of the diversity of the nation, he said.

"The harmonious peaceful coexistence that we have forged is vulnerable. Besides working together in carrying out development, we need to maintain national vigilance," he said.

On a more positive note, Soeharto said Indonesia had succeeded in conducting the general election and establishing the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the House of Representatives and the regional legislative councils.

"We all hope that those representatives who sit in the MPR will have their hearts strengthened, their minds purified, their perceptions broadened and their hearts opened in carrying out their difficult task.

"We believe that these representatives of the people in the assembly will take the best decisions for the nation, make the nation strong, and allow it to enter the 21st century with confidence," Soeharto said.

The 1,000-strong MPR is scheduled to meet in March to elect the next president and vice president and to draw up the guidelines of state policy for the 1998/2003 period. (prb/emb)

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