What we really need is justice

What we really need is justice

By T. Mulya Lubis

JAKARTA (JP): How will we solve our economic crisis? Sometimes
a sense of helplessness overwhelms me, but only for a moment. I
am an optimist at heart, tending to lean toward the side of hope
for humanity in general and the Indonesian people in particular.

We know that corruption, collusion and nepotism are words of
varying shades of gray, running across the entire spectrum of our
society in one way or another.

What do we expect? What can we achieve? Who is really to
blame?

All of us are, in one way or another.

As a nation, we must bear and resolve this shame. We have
created a system designed to foster abuse. I see this system
infecting many of the very same proposals offered as solutions.

Solutions and the problems themselves lie in the same place of
origin: our pocketbooks.

Problems arose due to a need for economic development. The
solutions came with development projects, generally relating to
infrastructure and other basic needs. The problems arose due to
an inability to adequately manage huge capital inflow and
distribution. This led to abuse.

Now, we need to end it while permitting the continuation of
the underlying economic activities.

Like it or not, as always we need our foreign investors, our
age-old historical partners in development. The question of
resources has always been an issue in Indonesia.

While there was huge abuse in the distribution of rights in
important infrastructure franchises, the projects generally
raised standards of living through development of transportation
networks of roads and bridges, railways and bus services.

They included investing in agriculture, the food we eat and
the water we drink, the medicine we take, and the electric power
which runs our homes and offices. We invested in accommodation,
in channels of product distribution and in our minds through
education.

All are the basic needs of a modern society, and they have
taken huge capital mobilization to accomplish.

And while we have not paid for them all yet, we should be
grateful for the financing, technology transfer and the
encouragement and general support from our trading partners and
citizens of friendly countries, whose tax dollars have
contributed generously to our general welfare.

Now, all of these things constitute the treasures of our
nation. There is still the uneven road work and
telecommunications (and we still do not have clean water to
drink), but in most ways we are far better off than ever before.

No one can deny we still need projects for employment, to put
money in our pockets and rice on the table.

While seeking to root out abuses in discretionary powers and
conflicts of interest, we must decide which projects we want to
destroy and which should continue.

It is a complicated choice in which we must ask ourselves
important questions.

What do we value? I value resources, the preservation of our
forests, seas, mountains, rivers, lakes, wildlife and the
beautiful regions of our culture, our language, ourselves.

I value the health of my children, my wife, my family, friends
and citizens of the world and worlds beyond. While that may be a
bit too lofty for relevance to this crisis, the principles lend
me guidance.

Maybe we need to choose to do things that are for the greater
good. Maybe we should concentrate on our supplies of water and
medical care, education, decent housing and skills development.
That would surely raise our standards of living and provide
insurance toward the future.

Maybe we should concentrate on our systems of transportation
and communications, our tourist industry, agriculture and
education (oil and precious mining seem to take care of
themselves)

The problem is that the former first family and their cronies
seem to have their grasp, directly or indirectly, in so many, if
not all, important and valuable projects.

We also find foreign investors in almost every one of these
projects. To me, that means that we Indonesians created a system
which required the involvement of foreign investment on the one
hand, and on the other required that foreign investors deal with
cronyism as a prerequisite to participate in the Indonesian
economy.

Today, we are scrutinizing most of these projects. There are
basically three potential losers; the Soeharto clan and the web
of intimates, foreign investors and Indonesian society at large.

The community is attempting to seek retribution by relieving
the Soehartos of their equity interests, assuming that enough
plunder has been stashed away forever to justify taking for the
people whatever is illuminated by the light of our
investigations.

Yet the people stand to lose much through the delay
in projects, including benefits of infrastructure in fostering
national development, but more directly through the loss of jobs
which puts rice on the table.

The people gain from the cessation of some projects; the two
national cars, triple-tier intercity transportation network, a
bridge to Malaysia and nuclear power plants were projects and
sectors too grandiose for our station in development.

Some of these bore the sickening weight of inflated budgets
designed to steam shovel money into the pockets of the crony
mandate interest holders, whom we must conclude have reaped a
sufficient harvest to last them through their lifetimes and
several generations of heirs.

No tears should be shed for those foreign investors with
interests in unnecessary projects who were no better than their
domestic counterparts.

But what of those foreign investors who have, within reason,
followed the letter of our often ambiguous laws, who are not
proven to have engaged in corrupt practices, who are engaged in
projects of national priority, who have already invested
substantial resources, who are able to provide financing and who
are technologically and logistically capable of performance?

Once society strips the Soehartos of any ill-gotten interests
in these projects, what remains?

I see projects worthy of continuation, and foreign investors
capable and competent to carry them out. And I am not so quick to
take up the banner of justice in favor of punishing foreign
investors operating in an environment largely of our own
creation.

I see in today's blaze of lawsuits against project
participants some parties seeking to take advantage of the
massive confusion created by the current situation. The economy
and all of its rights and interests are tossed around in flux at
high frequency.

In this environment, special interests, especially those who
harness the powers of government and money, find misfortune in
others' misery. Foreign and domestic concerns alike can be seen
engaging in these predatory and litigious pursuits.

It all looks confusing when taken as a whole. But when viewed
one by one, on basic principles, we should be able to judge the
just from the inequitable.

All we have to do is ask who stands to gain and who stands to
lose from the litigation and economic holdups.

We should not be fooled by parties raising claims against
viable economic activities, when those parties may be motivated
by a desire to personally gain from a shifting of contracts to
their hands. It is unscrupulous conduct amounting to using a
corrupt system for the perpetuation of corruption.

We need to be realistic and look to the vast number of people
who have lost their jobs, been forced to drop out of school and
are unable to provide for their families. The economic paralysis
is a time bomb nearing explosion. It is our task to maintain our
wisdom, and to be fair and just.

The early days of our independence were not much different
from today. Today, like then, we need a lot from the outside
world. We need technology, principles of democratic government,
education, assistance in the alleviation of poverty, agricultural
development and more.

As always, obtaining all this comes at a price. We have always
needed banks and foreign capital investment to solve the
equation. The task is now to apply proportionality and wisdom to
the equation of social and economic justice. In this light, we
will find our solutions.

The writer is a senior partner of Jakarta-based law firm Lubis
Santosa & Maulana.