Special Yearend Section

Special Yearend Section

As was the case in 2001, this year we are happy to provide our
loyal readers with a wide variety of yearend articles covering
the main issues that have been dominating the life of the country
for the past 12 months.

The Jakarta Post hosted a two-day seminar involving 14
scholars from several fields of expertise at the Santika Hotel,
Jakarta on Nov. 21 and 22, 2002, for advice on topics which
should be presented.

The participants discussed the topics and shared their views
before arriving at some concrete conclusions about the articles
to be presented, which will appear in the Dec. 30 and Dec. 31
Special Yearend Section of the paper.

The seminar was moderated by senior economist Djisman
Simanjuntak of Prasetia Mulya, and heard input from Bantarto
Bandoro, of the Indonesian Quarterly at the Centre for Strategic
and International Studies (CSIS), economist M. Chatib Basri of
the Institute for Economic and Social Research, the School of
Economy, University of Indonesia,Chusnul Mar'iyah of the National
Election Committee (KPU), B. Herry-Priyono, a lecturer of the
Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta, Ibrahim Assegaf, a
Jakarta-based lawyer, Philips J. Vermonte and Puspa Delima Amri
of CSIS, Raden Pardede of the Danareksa, M. Riefqi Muna of The
Ridep Institute, Satya Arinanto from the University of
Indonesia's School of Law, Smita Notosusanto from the Center for
Electoral Reform (Cetro) and Yanuar Nugroho from Indonesia
Business Watch.

The focus of the discussions were a full review of the
national reform agenda, which to a great extent, has been
distorted or derailed. The Sept. 11, 2001 and Oct. 12, 2002
terror strikes have obviously worsened the national political and
economic situation, which already had been deteriorating largely
due to ineffective governance here. A lot of problems are
unresolved, yet many of those are not even being discussed by the
government.

The first YearEnd edition today offers the following stories:

1. Living with another leaning year -- Page 13
2. Another muddling-through scenario -- Page 13
3. Reinventing globalization -- Page 14
4. Corruption of the Republic -- Page 15
5. Economic integration in Southeast Asia -- Page 15
6. Essential services in 2003 -- Page 16
7. Competing with China -- Page 17
8. Fiscal sustainability -- Page 18
9. Challenges in public service delivery -- Page 18
10. The tragedy of the commons -- Page 19
11. Techno-ethics -- Page 19
12. Newsmakers 2002 -- Page 20