Top economists gather to tout respective presidential candidate
Top economists gather to tout respective presidential candidate
Zakki P. Hakim, Jakarta
A number of top economists representing different presidential
candidates gathered on Monday to discuss to best ways to fight
unemployment, with all insisting that their respective candidates
were the most capable of solving the problem.
Sri Adiningsih of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, who
represented President Megawati Soekarnoputri, dismissed
allegations that the incumbent had failed to fight unemployment
during her tenure.
"It's true that many lost their jobs over the past three
years, but 2.3 million jobs were created annually during the
period to absorb the 2 million new job seekers entering the
market annually," Adiningsih said during the discussion, which
was organized by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission
(KPPU).
In a five-minute presentation, Adiningsih spelled out
Megawati's economic achievements over the last three years, while
claiming her administration had succeeded in laying strong
foundations for sustainable growth.
Adiningsih is among the team that formulated the economic
platform of Megawati and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi, which
promises the creation of almost 13 million jobs over the next
five years through accelerating annual economic growth to an
average of 6.8 percent.
Sofyan Djalil, who represented presidential candidate Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Jusuf Kalla, admitted that
millions of jobs had been created during Megawati's presidency.
But, many more jobs would have been created had Megawati's
administration managed to fight corruption and improve
bureaucratic effectiveness.
"The current government knows what is happening, but lacks the
will to take the action that is needed to fix the problem," he
said.
Susilo and Kalla served as coordinating minister for political
and security affairs and coordinating minister for people's
welfare respectively in Megawati's Cabinet.
Sofyan said Susilo and Kalla would create more jobs by
boosting investment through measures aimed to ensuring business
certainty and equity.
Dradjad Wibowo of the INDEF economic think tank, who
represented Amien Rais and Siswono Yudo Husodo, criticized
Megawati's administration for failing to curb "illegal economic
activities".
"Legal businesses suffered during Megawati's administration as
it failed to curb illegal activities such as illegal logging,
smuggling and piracy," he said.
He recalled that Megawati once said that she knew who was
behind illegal logging.
"But she did nothing," he said.
Amien and Siswono, he said, are determined to create more jobs
using the state budget as a stimulus by encouraging domestic
investment in infrastructure, housing and agroindustry, as well
as curbing illegal economic activities.
All the presidential and vice presidential tickets, except for
the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar ticket, have placed job creation at
the top of their economic agendas.
Hamzah and Agum, who did not send a representative to Monday's
debate, has placed economic equality at the top of its list of
priorities.
Economist Harry Azhar Azis, who represented presidential
candidate Wiranto and running mate Solahuddin Wahid, noted that
the best way to create jobs would be to first establish strong
economic fundamentals.
"We aim to establish strong economic fundamentals, through law
enforcement, transparency and a crackdown on rent-seekers.
"This will attract foreign investors and boost domestic
business and support the development of small and medium
enterprises," Harry said.