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.