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