The Havana summit

The Havana summit

The most intriguing question for me, and I am sure many other
people as well, is what went on in President Abdurrahman Wahid's
(Gus Dur's) mind when he heard Cuban (communist) leader Fidel
Castro, as the media reported, lash out at the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), as being the main culprit of poverty and
backwardness among people of developing nations. Just consider
that without the IMF's (and the World Bank's) assistance,
Indonesia would have perished and Gus Dur himself would not have
been able, with his family, to fly to Cuba and other
destinations, on a private Airbus plane.

The Group of 77, has grown in number to 133 members, or as it
is also popularly called the South-South Forum, should not have
served as a fiesta of developing nations urging the abolition of
the capitalist system and accusing it of exploiting the poor
people of the developing nations, while they themselves have done
practically little to help alleviate the world's suffering.

My guess is that Gus Dur very much enjoyed his presence at the
Havana summit meeting and talking to so many dignitaries. Upon
hearing from his host all the rhetoric and accusations or
critical remarks of the bad western style of capitalism (what
about Russian communist style of capitalism?) Abdurrahman Wahid
must have only chuckled in pleasure. After all, he must have
thought to himself that free trade and globalization are not the
work of the devil, so there is no harm in it from a religious
point of view.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's presence at the South-South
summit reminded us that the spirit of cooperation of the United
Nations Charter was fortunately still present.

The Havana summit should deal mostly with trade issues; how to
export more, how to buy more cheaply and remove any barriers,
either artificial or due to force. What they must realize is that
they cannot thrive without the North, which is after all richer,
although the South may have control over some of the world's
minerals.

Another essential aspect is that countries of the South-South
region could assist each other more in technical cooperation and
new inventions, or exchange personnel. When Gus Dur comes back, I
would personally prefer him to stay longer at home and address
the nation's priority problems and let others, especially
Indonesian ambassadors, lure prospective investors.

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta