Surabaya – Vice presidential candidate Siswono Yudohusodo pleged that if he and presidential aspirant Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) became the nation's top leaders, he will stop the country's debts in four or five years.
"It is not wrong for the country to be indebted. But if it became dependent, it is wrong. I think we will be able to stop the new debts in four or five years," he said here on Thursday.
He made the remarks when delivering a keynote speech at a seminar on "building national self-reliance" on the occasion of the 45th founding anniversary of the "Veteran" National Development University (UPN).
Flanked by UPN rector H. Warsito, Siswono, Housing and Transmigration Minister under the Soeharto regime, said that stopping the debts did not mean that all the debts had been paid off.
"If the country wishes to settle its debts, I think it would take 30 years. But the important thing is that we are determined to stop new debts four or five years, and at the same time gradually reducing the debts until totally paid off in 30 years," he said.
In the meantime, according to the general chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI), the country's debts up till 2003 amounted to USD75.4 billion, and in 2004 the amount has been increased by USD 1.5 million. "And stopping the debts in a relatively short time would be impossible, but it would be more important for a leader to stop making new debts," he noted. The problem now is that no leader has a commitment to stop it, said Siswno, who is also President Commissioner PT. Bangun Cipta.
"Debts are posing a problem to our country, while the others include increasing unemployment [36 million], merely a still four percent economic growth rate, a limited state budget, and low morality as the result of money politics and corruption," he said.
As a matter of fact, the government could try to reduce the country's debts by resorting to three means, namely fiscal, monetary and administrative means.
To improve the quality of foodstuffs, the British Government imposes low tax on fertile land and high tax on neglected land. "What has really happened in Indonesia is actually the other way around. Fertile land is subject to high tax, so no wonder that farm products are diminishing from year to year."
On the occasion, Siswono reiterated that Indonesia would be able to become an advanced country through its agriculture, as many countries such as the US, Thailand and some others could make a tremendous record in the agriculture sector by conducting various researches.
"If I were elected, I would struggle for these objectives, especially that Indonesia is the biggest and best white pepper producing country and the second largest and best producer of palm oil in the world," he noted.