Sowing seeds of hatred

Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has insulted the Muslim world with his anti-Islam film “Fitna”. The film, which can be seen on You Tube and other internet sites, clearly links images of extremist attacks to verses from the Al Qur’an and equates Islam with violence. Wilders, a far-right Freedom Party lawmaker, has also called for the Al Qur’an to be banned in the Netherlands. While most Muslims and the rest of the world are angry, Wilders is just as happy as he can get. He’s challenging the world to debate whether he’s wrong and he’s been invited to the US for a lecture (what will President Bush say?). The intense publicity of the broadcast has made many more people in the West to believe that Islam is violent and evil. Muslims reject that. Indonesia has condemned Wilders and banned him. The Dutch must be careful in regard to its ties with Indonesia. Malaysia’s former leader Mahathir Mohamad suggested a boycott on Dutch products (what if the world’s Muslims unite and boycott Dutch products and Dutch companies in the Muslim world such as Shell, Philips and Unilever). Although the Dutch government has already condemned Wilders, it’s not enough. Egypt, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Singapore, 27 European Union foreign ministers and the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon have condemned the Dutch MP. Wilders wants to curb what he says is Islamization of Europe and the West (doesn’t he realize that there are many followers of different faiths as well living in the Muslim world?). At a time when the world is seeking peace and understanding among nations, cultures and religions, Wilders is disrupting the process. He is a modern day fascist and as crazy as Adolf Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan. He has incited racial and religious hatred. He is spreading the phobic that Islam is dangerous to a far wider extent. He is sowing seeds of hatred under the pretext of freedom of expression. Beware, the situation is dangerous and Wilders must be stopped!

Prof. Dr. Steve H. Hanke in restrospect

When Indonesia’s economy, the stock market and the currency collapsed in 1997, an unknown Johns Hopkins University professor was called in by then president Soeharto to help. The professor, Dr. Steve H. Hanke, proposed that the Currency Board System be implemented to fix the exchange rate of the battered Indonesian rupiah to the dollar. Soeharto was happy with the plan. He wanted to implement it. Some were enthusiastic to back the plan. But economists rallied to reject the plan. Soeharto was powerless. He didn’t dare defy his master’s order. Indonesia had for such a long time been dictated by the United States, the IMF, Japan, Singapore and the European countries. They had committed a US$ 43 billion bailout package. Soeharto had to succumb to the pressure by the IMF. He was powerless as he signed a letter of intent under the notorious look of IMF’s Michel Camdessus (your time is up old man!). US President Bill Clinton had telephoned Soeharto and ordered him to reject Hanke’s plan. But until now it is still a a mystery how Hanke met Soeharto without prior consent of the Indonesian finance ministry and the IMF. Ten years after the dramatic events, last Wednesday and Thursday (March 26-27, 2008), Hanke appeared again in Indonesia. He gave lectures at the Pelita Harapan University and a forum hosted by a prominent business magazine (Peter Gontha met him for the first time). During his time here, Hanke warned Bank Indonesia against further cuts in its benchmark interest rates due to increasing inflation pressure, called for strengthening of the rupiah by buying it in the market and reforming Indonesia’s labor regulations. But Hanke’s fiercest criticism was on Indonesia’s inability to make accurate budget assumptions (oil price is more than US$ 100 per barrel). He said the state budget is inefficient and not properly formulated such as allocating spending on fuel and electricity subsidies which should have been used for funding infrastructure developments. Dr. Steve H. Hanke had advised Soeharto with his CBS. It would be interesting to know what he would recommend if he is asked to advise current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in fixing the current state of the economy.

Devils in flying angels

Tuesday, March 25 saw an important press conference by the Indonesian air transport safety officials. They announced the results of investigation into the crash of an Adam Air jetliner in January 2007 which killed 102 people on board. The investigation showed pilot error caused the plane to crash into the sea. The autopilot was disconnected while the pilots tried to fix a problem with the plane’s navigation instruments. According to the investigation of the black box flight recorder, the aircraft was flying at 10 times the normal landing speed when it hit the water. Adam Air had registered 154 defects in the Boeing 737-400’s navigation system in the three months before the crash, showing the planes were poorly maintained. An Adam Air Boeing 737 broke into two during a hard landing in Surabaya. In February 2006, an Adam Air aircraft strayed off course after navigation systems failed and made an emergency landing in Tambolaka, East Nusa Tenggara. And in a latest incident in Batam, an Adam Air plane skidded off the runway during landing. Indeed, Adam Air’s safety record was totally unaccountable and Tuesday’s findings proved that Adam Air had been negligent in implementing safety procedures. The authorities should have grounded Adam Air a long time ago (investigate the former flight safety officials!). Meanwhile, Adam Air has financial difficulties as well. The company has defaulted on debt payments to aircraft lease firms and it owes leasing companies more than US$14 million. Its investors have pulled out in distrust of the company’s founders and their intentions. Not mentioning, the transparency of its financial management (where have all the money gone?). Innocent people have lost their lives due to Adam Air’s negligence and the family-owned company should be held responsible. Adam Air has not only tainted the image and credibility of the Indonesian air transportation industry but also caused public distrust in other Indonesian airlines as well. The government should not tolerate such negligence ever again!

Why be over-reactive?

Indonesia should also conduct routine random security checks for visitors to Indonesia regardless who the person is, whether he is a saint, a foreign government official or just anyone. This procedure is a must given the lax security precautions providing the opportunity for illegals to enter the country. As the immigration office has pointed out, many foreigners have entered Indonesia without proper documents. Besides, the number of immigration violations have increased during the previous years. This was why, the Indonesian immgration set up its intelligence involving police, the attorney general’s office, the finance ministry and other security authorities. The main purpose is to prevent illegal entry, terrorism, drug trafficking and check Indonesian and foreign white collar criminals coming or going out the country. Recently, the Singapore immigration conducted a random check on two incoming visitors from Indonesia. They happened to be presidential advisor Adnan Buyung Nasution and former attorney general Abdul Rachman Saleh, two prominent Indonesians going on a friendly visit to a neighboring country. They were held for more than two hours for questioning. It was a humiliation on their part. But any country reserves its right to check on any incoming foreign visitors regardless who he is. The brief detention of  Buyung and Abdul Rachman Saleh came amid heightened security at Changi Airport following the recent escape of terrorist Mas Slamet Kastari from a jail in Singapore. There was no need for asking a high-level apology and explanation from Singapore as the island-state conducted what it regards as a normal security procedure (although Singapore apologized). Such procedure is also enforced in other countries such as the United States. Any Indonesian with a Muslim name will likely be checked intensively (what’s underneath your socks). Indonesia should not be over-reactive. There are other issues far more important to bring up with Singapore such as extradition of Indonesian white collar criminals (those involved in BLBI case and money launderers) hiding or taking up residence in Singapore.

Revamp the national food policy

Indonesia is on the brink of a food crisis. With 65% of the food demand dependent on imported products, it’s about time the government revamp its national food policy. Basic foodstuff prices on the international markets have increased at an average of 3.7% a month. Uncertainty in global weather has also affected world food production. Indonesia, which entirely relies on imported wheat, sugar, corn and soybeans, is very vulnerable to crisis. Rice production has gone down while prices have gone up and became unaffordable (in some areas, people consume recycled waste rice). Rice quality has gone down too. Farmers in South Sumatra blame it on poor distribution of fertilizers (low-grade as well). The price of wheat on the international market rises by an average of 10% causing the price of flour-based foods such as instant noodle and biscuits to increase by 3% (Indonesians eat a lot of Anthony Salim’s Indomie). Unlike India and China, Indonesia has no effective import incentives (why not lower import duties again?). At the same time, the government is negligent in protecting the farmers to sustain food production. One example is the national sugar production. By allowing import of more than 1.4 million tons of refined sugar, the cane sugar farmers can only sell their products for less than Rp 5,000 a kilogram. Refined sugar has flooded the market and sometimes cheaper than pure Indonesian white sugar. This has a devastating impact on the farmers’ welfare. In three years time, they will go bankrupt. The government should already be in panic as it does not have proper food stock planning and effective distribution to feed a nation of more than 230 million people. Revamp the national food policy soon!

State budget woes

Time: March 17, 2008. Place: Regional People’s Legislative Assembly. Persons: Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) chairman Paskah Suzetta. Subject: Talk on revising the 2008 State Budget (APBN). Are they still going to use the US$ 83 per barrel oil price assumption or are they going to revise it? The APBN 2008 was based on economic growth projection of 6.8%, currency rate of Rp 9.500 to the US dollar and inflation of 6.5%. Oil prices have gone up over US$ 110 per barrel. How are they going to cope with that? The rationale, economic growth assumption had to be lowered to 6%, the inflation projection had to be increased to 7% and change the oil price assumption to US$ 100 per barrel. But that is also difficult to undertake. Total subsidies which have to be allocated by the government has amounted to Rp 208 trillion. And if the APBN had to be revised based on new oil price assumption, the subsidies would increase to Rp 300 trillion. Both Sri Mulyani and Paskah Suzetta are unsure. Earlier, the government had said the APBN would be safe and will not affect Indonesia. But that’s a lie (government thinks common people are unaware). It’s dangerous and could seriously undermine the credibility of the government. Common sense tells us that it would be safe if Indonesia has all that oil (indeed, Indonesia is a rich country). But current oil production is less than 1 million barrels a day and most of that is controlled by the foreign oil companies. Indonesia could have earned windfall profits if it had controlled its own oil. But that was not the case. Now Indonesia has to import oil at market price of US$ 105 per barrel to meet its domestic demand meaning that its foreign exchange reserves had to be used to buy oil instead of financing Indonesia’s other development projects. The recession in the US indeed has affected other countries such as Indonesia. But Indonesia must bear in mind that the US economic downfall is only temporary. It will surely recover. Besides, the United States still have its own strategic oil reserves while Indonesia doesn’t (so quit blaming the poorly-formulated economic policies on external factors). Poor rich Indonesia!

BI needs a transformational leadership

We have been going through a process to find the right person for Governor of Bank Indonesia (central bank). The position is a very prestigious and the person there ought to be someone who has a vision, an excellent track record, integrity and known by the international community. As we all know, BI is now a top heavy institution like an inverted pyramid. But it still lacks the independency. Due to this, a candidate from outside the current BI hierarchy would be more suitable. There has been a lot of political wrangling on the issue. The House of Representatives, DPR, recently conducted a fit and proper test on two candidates proposed by the president who has the prerogative right to nominate. Unfortunately, the DPR rejected them on grounds they didn’t have sufficient qualifications (including political lobby?). The ideal candidate would be someone who is a transformational leader. Unlike a transactional leader which uses power over rewards and punishments to lead, the transformational leader works together with his staff in a way that changes, or transforms the institution and people running it. He uses a partnership approach. The staff will follow a leader who inspires them. He has the vision and passion which can achieve great things by injecting a great deal of enthusiasm and energy. A transformational leader puts passion and energy into everything. He is charismatic but seeking to transform. In the case of BI, the institution needs transforming to become credible and independent. An example of a transformational leader is former central bank governor Rachmat Saleh who ruled BI for more than 10 years. But he had heaps of experience. He served the Federal Reserve Bank of India, worked in the US and the Netherlands . He was successful in transforming the central bank from its dire state in the past. Now, can the president propose such a transformational candidate for the BI leadership (better than Agus or Raden certainly)?

No such thing as Islamophobia

There’s no such thing as Islamophobia. Is there such thing as Jewophobia or Christianophobia? No such thing either. Islamophobia is only a term created by the West. Islamophobia had been discussed as a major topic at the recent Organization of Islamic Conference in Senegal. What’s the point? We should not be victims of such propaganda. Islam is moderate, tolerant and democratic. Its values are just as universal as other faiths. Who says Islam is not democratic? It’s a pity fellow Indonesians are saying a lot of things they don’t really understand. There’s no such thing as Islam searching for a new paradigm. Or Islam compliments to democracy or so forth. Islam is Islam as it is in Indonesia. What should be discussed at the OIC is Arab unity. It’s the Arabs who are not united. Not Islam. Islam doesn’t teach extremism or hurting other people. The Arabs should show solidarity to the Palestinians and help them (firecrackers vs smart bombs in Gaza). They have to do something not just yakking around calling for Arab unity or fighting Islamophobia. Why not fight to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 instead? Indonesia can’t help. It has too many problems at home. East and West are far apart. West can dictate East but East can’t dictate West. Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world and has the largest Muslim population in the world. And Islam is Islam as it is in Indonesia. We have lived peacefully with Islam for hundreds of years in Indonesia and we don’t want to be part of a problem caused by a terminology fabricated by the West.

A nationalist

Ir. Ciputra has been awarded a doctorate degree (honoris causa) in technical sciences by the Tarumanegara University recently. I attended the event and many ITB alumni (many of whom are senior and his university buddies) told me that Ciputra’s thinking is very nationalist. I tend to agree. Ciputra called Indonesia his own motherland and he wants to do more for his country. Pak Ci, as he is more known, did not forget to attribute his success to former president Soekarno, former Jakarta governors Soemarno and Ali Sadikin for their vision to build Jakarta. Together, they transformed a useless wasteland to become the third largest recreational park in the world (Disneyland in the US rejected it) and convert the slum area of Senen to a modern shopping complex. What struck me was he dared to lash out at the government for not including entrepreneurship studies in the national curriculum. I agree with him. We only have around 400,00 entrepreneurs in a population of more than 200 million people. University grads should be job creators and not job seekers. I also learned that Pak Ci was born to a poor family in Parigi, Central Sulawesi. His father Tjie Siem Poe was imprisoned by the Japanese occupation forces and died in a dungeon. This has formed Pak Ci’s nationalist spirit. Pak Ci led a difficult life. He had to hunt wild animals in the jungle to eat and walk barefoot 7 kilometers to attend school. And Pak Ci didn’t keep everything he’s got for himself. Eighty percent of his companies are now owned by the Jakarta Provincial Government. Now at 77, he still wants to do more for the nation and people. I have seen other conglomerates awarded doctorate degrees (are they nationalists?) but Pak Ci is different. He really deserves one. Congrats Pak Ci!

The good and bad news

The recent visit of His Royal Highness Duke of York to Indonesia strengthens bilateral ties and opens the opportunity for more investments from the United Kingdom. It will also bridge the perception gap between existing foreign investors and potential new investors on Indonesia’s investment climate (red tape, manpower regulations). The UK is the second largest investor here after Japan, with total investments of US$4.6 billion, mainly in the oil, gas and mining sectors where British Petroleum, Rio Tinto and Shell are all active (Papua’s Bintuni bay has reserves of at least 14.4 trillion cubic feet of gas). UK investors also have stakes in automotive manufacturer PT Astra International and several hotels. While making clear (he’s sincere and honest ‘cause he’s a royal) that Indonesia is an important trading partner for the UK, the Duke offers business expertise and London as a global financial capital, with advanced financial and business consultancy services. He also invited President SBY to visit London to raise Indonesia’s profile and showcase the opportunities that exist here. The bad news is Indonesia’s stance during the last UNSC vote to impose new sanctions on Iran. Instead of opposing or rejecting the vote, our dear Ambassador Marty Natalegawa abstained (he wants to play it safe). During an earlier vote, Indonesia supported the other members of the UNSC to hand down the sanctions (what an inconsistency!) Such double standard reflects the indecisiveness of the Indonesian government in its foreign policy. What a will the Iranians say when President SBY arrives in Teheran for a state visit later this month?