Top government official criticizes tower plan

JAKARTA (JP): An official of the National Development Planning Board has denounced the US$400 million plan of business tycoon Sudwikatmono to build the world's third-tallest tower in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Mubyarto, assistant to Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita, said the funds should be used for government-sponsored programs for the improvement of Indonesia's least-developed villages.

"While the government cannot confiscate, extort or beg for the funds, they would do more good if donated for use by the program," said Mubyarto, who is responsible for poverty alleviation, as quoted by Antara.

Responding to a question raised by a participant in a seminar in Yogyakarta on Saturday entitled "Economic and Business Development Strategies in Indonesia," Mubyarto said that he fully agreed with the criticisms of the proposed tower voiced by a number of members of the House of Representatives.

Last Friday, several members of the House expressed strong opposition to the project, demanding that the funds be used for other purposes, such as the improvement of people's welfare.

The legislators said that if business conglomerates wanted to boost Indonesia's prestige, they should help to alleviate poverty, particularly in the eastern part of the country, rather than build the tower.

Mubyarto said Indonesia's poverty-alleviation program badly needed support, in particular from Indonesian conglomerates.

Sudwikatmono has defended his plan, saying that those people who are critical of the proposal may not be in possession of accurate information about the plan.

The tower has been proposed as a monument to the success of the New Order government, Sudwikatmono said in Cilegon on Saturday.

In cooperation with fellow tycoons Prayogo Pangestu and Henry Pribadi, Sudwikatmono is establishing a consortium called PT Indocitra Graha Bawana to undertake the project.

The tower, to be called Menara Jakarta (Jakarta Tower), has been designed by architects from the East China Architecture Design Institute.

The building would have five stories, representing the five principles of the state ideology Pancasila. These would be supported by three tall columns, symbolizing the three pillars of Indonesia's development: namely, equal distribution of the fruits of development for the creation of social justice; a high rate of economic growth; and dynamic and healthy national stability.

Earlier last week, Professor Soekadji Ranuwihardjo of the economics department of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University urged the government to call for the funds to be used, instead, for poverty alleviation programs.

"In the context of the aggressive campaign for the alleviation of poverty, the government should not let the conglomerates fund a 'tower of social inequality'," he said.

"It would be better if the funds were used to help the poor, wouldn't it?" he asked.

"By helping the campaign against poverty, the prestige of the conglomerates would be more human, rather than simply based on the piles of materials used in the tower project," he added. (hhr)