Soeharto promises less state intervention
Soeharto promises less state intervention
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto pledged yesterday to
gradually dismantle all remaining economic protection and reduce
as far as possible state intervention in the economy.
"In a free market world, nations must compete solely on the
basis of the effectiveness and efficiency of their own economic
systems," Soeharto said at the opening of a refresher course on
the state ideology, Pancasila, for 97 top administrators of
state-run universities.
The statement comes less than two weeks before the leadership
meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in
Osaka, Japan, in which all 18 members, including Indonesia, are
expected to provide details of their respective programs to
liberalize trade and investment.
In their last meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, last year, the APEC
leaders agreed to move towards a free trade area for the region,
setting a deadline of 2010 for the industrialized countries and
2020 for developing countries. APEC officials have been working
for the past year to produce an "Action Agenda" for the
implementation of the Bogor Declaration in time for the Osaka
summit.
Soeharto said yesterday that one of the biggest challenges
facing Indonesia and other nations is opening up their economies
and liberalizing trade.
"The switch to openness and free trade requires thorough
preparations. If it's done suddenly, the new international
economic order will become an arena of unequal competition
between the advanced industrial countries and the developing
countries," he said.
In such a scenario, the developing countries would be certain
to lose out in the competition, he added.
The refresher course is being held at the Bogor Presidential
Palace, the venue at which the historic Bogor Declaration was
first read out to the world.
The President said APEC's developing countries should be given
enough time to make the necessary preparations for the free trade
era. "A quarter of a century isn't that long. That's why we have
to thoroughly grasp this development in order to prepare the
necessary steps."
Soeharto devoted the other half of his speech to Pancasila,
saying that the ideology, together with the 1945 Constitution,
was what had kept Indonesia united.
He said there is a strong national consensus regarding the
implementation of Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution.
"The spirit contained in both Pancasila and the 1945
Constitution is one of nationalism in a familial environment. In
a nation that is so diverse, the spirit of nationalism is the one
binding factors that must not be allowed to become loose.
"Experience has shown that without Pancasila and the 1945
Constitution there will be no unity and cohesion. Without unity
and cohesion there will never be a Unitary State of the Republic
of Indonesia," Soeharto said.
The President said he was delighted to see that the majority
of the people in Indonesia have forged a common perception about
the future of the nation and the direction of the country's
development.
"If there are still differences, they are not really over
issues of principle, but more over policies, strategy and
implementation," he said, adding that these differences could be
settled through deliberation. (emb)