Endy M. Bayuni, Tampaksiring – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced ambitious targets for his economic plan on Monday and then turned to the major stakeholders assembled for a retreat in this hill village in Bali to draw up a roadmap to achieve the goals.
In a 10-point presidential directive, the President called for per capita income to increase to US$4,500 a year by 2014 from $2,590, an economic growth rate of 7 percent a year, a cut in the jobless rate to a range of 5-6 percent from 7.9 percent or 9 million people, and a reduction in the poverty rate to a range of 8-10 percent from 14.1 percent.
The plan also called for maintaining economic stability, more government financing from local sources, stronger food and water security, better energy security, a more competitive economy and the promotion of a "green" economy.
The retreat at the Tampaksiring Presidential Palace on the skirt of Mt. Agung, is being attended by Vice President Boediono, the entire Cabinet, all provincial governors and chairs of provincial legislative councils as well as a host of business leaders and academicians.
The seat of the government has practically been moved here from Jakarta with all the top government echelons attending the retreat to come up with an economic strategy to accelerate and strengthen economic development.
Yudhoyono's second term as president ends in 2014, and he is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term. Success on the economic front would be his chief legacy, if he can pull it off.
Yudhoyono said the economic plan should promote growth with equity, underlining once again his triple-track strategy that should be "pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-poor".
Recent growth rates have been neutral or detrimental to the equity objectives. The huge disparity is also reflected in the income of the 33 provinces in the country.
One important aspect that the retreat looks at is the role of technological innovation in economic development. The President will later this week inaugurate the Council for Technological Innovation and the Council for the Economy to help implement the "Tampaksiring Strategy."
The President said he brought the participants to the hill resort in the hope that the cool atmosphere and beautiful surroundings would inspire new and innovative ideas to achieve the targets.
He said Indonesia had been fortunate to have weathered the global economic recession and come out with 4.5 percent growth in 2009 to emerge as one of the strongest economies in Asia.
"We have many reasons to be grateful for the good news," he said. "But we have to realize that we have plenty of challenges and we must do our homework," he said.
One of the suggestions that came up during the deliberation was for Indonesia to adopt the Chinese model of economic development.
To this, the President said: "Indonesia has chosen democracy. Returning to the old authoritarian model is not an option." He added however that there are values in the Chinese model that could be applied in a democracy like Indonesia.