There is still hope

There is still hope

The string of events that have occurred during the past week
should give cause for growing concern among Indonesians. The
value of the rupiah declined again, which demonstrates the
progressive weakening of the currency against the U.S. dollar.
This makes it difficult for business to calculate the prices of
products, affects production costs and causes the amount of
dollars that people in business must accumulate for debt
repayment purposes to swell. The public, too, is inconvenienced
because almost all consumer products use imported components.

Another laughable development occurred this week. Finance
Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo declared in a meeting with the
House of Representative's Commission IX that the agreement for
the purchase of a palm oil estate belonging to the Salim Group by
the Malaysian company Guthrie Berhad has not been finalized.
This is despite the fact that the sale of the asset, which is
controlled by the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA),
has already been approved by the agency's financial policy
committee. Coordinating Minister of Economy, Rizal Ramli, said he
considered the transaction final.

What happened to Mobil Oil and Arun (natural gas fields) has
further damaged Indonesia's image as a safe location for
investment. One further implication is that the trust of user
countries of Arun products is being marred. The long-range impact
will be a loss of trust in consumer countries of Arun products.

There is, however, still a glimmer of light at the end of the
tunnel. The President will soon meet leaders of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR) and MPR factions to find a common
standpoint regarding the problems this nation is facing. Let us
hope this meeting will not merely be a symbolic gesture, but that
it will really reach the heart of the matter.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta