Where are the profits?

Where are the profits?

From Merdeka

Indonesians have made progress in their way of thinking. This
is evident from the fact that when people chat on the sidewalk or
at a coffee stand they always keep abreast with the country's
latest developments. People are talking about all sorts of
pertinent issues.

Questions are being asked about many things -- about the
impact of the present monetary crisis, for instance, or why
common people usually become the first victims. People are
inquiring as to why business tycoons and state-owned companies
noisily talk about their sustained losses and later announce that
they wish to increase their prices in order to cover the losses.

So people ask, why did they keep quiet when they enjoyed a
profit? Their loud voices were not heard when the going was good.
In fact, they have made profits more frequently than sustaining
losses. Where has the money from these profits gone?

People also have become curious as to how external loans could
go to the private sector and also why they may have received
bigger offshore loans than the government. Aren't these loans
extended in the interest of the state?

Just the assets of business tycoons placed overseas are worth
trillions of rupiah. So why don't these business tycoons want to
pay back their debts? And also why have they asked the government
for help in this respect. Is it true that they have sustained
losses?

Let me offer an example of a developer. The company
appropriates land by paying in rupiah (of course at a low rate).
It then sells the land in U.S. dollars. Now that the country is
being hit by a monetary crisis, just imagine how much their
profits have increased in value. However, this company may have
even made the present monetary crisis an excuse for not giving
its employees an annual bonus.

Indeed, it is likely that the government could afford to pay
back its debts because Indonesia is actually very wealthy. The
problem is that management of and supervision over the state's
finances are still inadequate. Only recently we have seen that
three former Bank of Indonesia directors were allegedly involved
in corrupt practices involving as much as Rp 1.5 trillion. Wow,
what a case indeed!

In this regard only "three mice" are concerned. Now imagine if
all the other mice could be caught -- those taking a bite from
the state's coffers must be thousands in number.

Let's hope that a wind of change will soon blow and that
justice and prosperity will no longer be words found in a
dictionary only.

EDDIE SULAIMAN

Bandung, West Java