Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Entering their final year in office, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla remain unable to live up to their campaign promises to significantly cut the poverty rate and provide more employment, a discussion concluded Thursday.
The forum said the current administration had failed to improve the economy, although it had been successful in securing the country and fighting corruption and illegal logging.
The discussion, organized by the Committee to Rescue State Assets, was aimed at evaluating the performance of the Yudhoyono government after four years in office.
In attendance were former People's Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais, former chief economic minister Rizal Ramli, economist Fadhil Hasan and Regional Representatives Council member Marwan Batubara.
Amien said the current government's success in bringing peace to Aceh, Maluku and Poso in Central Sulawesi and in reducing gambling and illegal logging should be fairly recognized.
"But what I can't accept is the fact that we are becoming dependent on foreign corporations and global capitalism as we allow them to control our natural resources," he said.
Amien cited an article in the gas and oil law that limits the domestic use of oil and gas to only 25 percent, saying this proved the Yudhoyono administration was "dictated to by foreign companies".
"The state has been hijacked by big companies which cooperate with state officials and legislators to legalize the theft of state assets worth trillions of rupiah," he said.
Rizal similarly blasted Yudhoyono for worsening Indonesia's economic condition, leaving the poverty rate stuck at 30 million to 40 million people. He accused Yudhoyono of lying to the public by saying Indonesia would only be slightly affected by the current global financial crisis.
"Yudhoyono's administration has said our economic foundation or our macroeconomic condition are strong just because there is a lot of hot money pouring into the country and that the prices of commodities are going up, but these (increases) are all temporary," the economist said.
Rizal said that because of the crisis substantial short-term funds had gone out of the country and that prices of commodities had gone down, threatening to take the economy down further.
"We don't know how low the slump will be but as of now, many businesspeople and farmers in the region have seen their exports slashed. We are entering a crisis because it won't be long before people start to lose their jobs or will be crying to meet their basic needs," he said.
Marwan similarly accused the Yudhoyono administration of not siding with the ordinary people, pointing to the fact that he had raised the fuel prices three times during his four year term, while taking no action against corruption cases in the oil and gas sector. The fuel price increases have caused many people to suffer, he added.
He said Indonesia's foreign debts continued to rise during the Yudhoyono administration, standing at some Rp 1,486 trillion this year. "In 2008, the government must pay Rp 94.7 trillion in interest alone. This is because we must pay the burden of the BLBI (Bank Indonesia liquidity support) debts. That's why, resolving the BLBI cases must be a top priority for the government," he said.