Two trategies suggested for development
Two trategies suggested for development
JAKARTA (JP): Ginandjar Kartasasmita, a senior cabinet minister, is advocating both non-interventionism and active government policies in Indonesia; the first for the modern economic sector and the second for the traditional sector.
The development strategy for the two must be different because the economic structure and social order separate those who are living in the modern advanced sector and those who are lagging behind in the traditional sector, Ginandjar said in Malang, East Java, on Saturday.
For the modern economic sector, he is advocating minimum government intervention but for the traditional sector, he proposes an active government role in pushing development.
Ginandjar, the minister for national development planning, and chairman of the powerful National Development Planning Board, made the argument during his oration before a senate of professors at the Brawijaya University, where he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in Administration Studies, Antara reported.
His paper, entitled Empowering Society: An Administrative Perspective, states that the government should allow the modern sector to continue to progress because it is for the good of the nation. The government should encourage improvement in efficiency, productivity and the mastering of technology.
In the economic sector, he stated, this effort is best carried out by giving freedom to those in the modern sector without too much intervention or obstacles. The government should withdraw from managing fields that the private sector could handle better.
The government's role should be limited, to ensuring that free competition does not lead to the domination of the powerful over the weak, he added.
The government should also prevent excessive exploitation of natural resources by the modern sector, leaving nothing for the traditional sector.
The approach to the traditional sector is different. Here the government has a duty to bring the people, who are economically backward, into the modern world, Ginandjar said.
He did not give any specifics, saying that the strategy still needs to be developed further: How to empower the people so that their capacities and capabilities are improved and at the same time they will help empower the country's overall economy.
While advocating an active government role, Ginandjar also underlined the need to change the image of Indonesia's bureaucracy.
The traditional, paternalistic and feudalistic role of the bureaucracy must be changed, so that people are not treated as objects of development, which need to be handled through "development projects", he said.
Ginandjar said the bureaucracy must base its views on the idea that people have the power to improve their own lives, if only they were given the trust and chance to do so.
In his 32-page oration, he said that to achieve sound development, the bureaucracy needs to improve its services to the people, which can only be done by allowing a more decentralized and autonomous governmental system on the regional level.
Ginandjar, 54 years old, was awarded the degree by Rector Hasyim Basoeni, making it his fourth in the last two years.
He received an honorary doctoral degree in 1994, in economics, from the Takushoku University in Tokyo and in public services from the Northeastern University in Boston, U.S. Last month, he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in development administration studies, by the Gadjah Mada University in Yogykarta.
Among the top officials present during his speech were Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Azwar Anas, Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono, Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, Army Chief of Staff Gen. R. Hartono and Air Force Chief of Staff Marshall Rilo Pambudi. (pwn)