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