Indonesia seeks to woo investors with joys of democracy
Indonesia has embarked on a charm offensive to woo investors, pointing to its relatively trouble-free electoral process as proof that change is in the offing.
Democracy breeds accountability and transparency and through these will come economic development, is the message its envoys involved in the regional push are preaching.
Analysts, while praising the conduct of April's parliamentary elections and the process to elect a president and vice-president, are not convinced, though. A lack of rule of law and rampant corruption are among problems they see as impediments to economic growth and poverty alleviation.
Central bank senior deputy governor Anwar Nasution and government political analyst Andi Mallarangeng did not dispute that Indonesia faced significant hurdles when they visited Hong Kong last week. But they had no doubt that after presidential elections in coming months, the process of reversing the seven-year economic crisis could begin in earnest.
Professor Anwar said his country had gone from authoritarian rule under former military dictator Suharto to a democracy in a short time. Implementing political and economic reforms had not been easy given Indonesia's size.
'But judging from the result of last month's elections, I have great optimism for Indonesia,' he said at the Conrad Hotel during the three-day visit, which ended on Friday. 'The election indicates that democracy works. It went off quite peacefully.'
For Dr Andi, an unsuccessful candidate in the elections, that was the first, important step in restoring confidence. Progress had been made in setting up a system that now included a constitutional court and election commission. Choosing a strong leader in the two rounds of presidential elections, on July 5 and September 20, would ensure the process continued successfully, he said.
'The problem is that we need a stable leadership, better management of the country and the government needs to work on making the system function,' Dr Andi contended. 'We hope that the upcoming elections give us better and more accountable leadership and a government that functions better. The system that is now in place should then work better. We are making progress.'
In April's polls, President Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic party-Struggle, also known as PDI-P, won just 18.5 per cent of the vote, down from 34 per cent in the last elections in 2001. Suharto's former party, Golkar, topped the vote with 21.6 per cent.
The leading candidates for president are Mrs Megawati and Golkar's nomination, retired military chief Wiranto, who faces arrest if he leaves the country after being charged under international law for allegedly ordering human rights abuses against East Timorese in 1999.
Wiranto's run for the presidency was not problematic for Professor Anwar.
'This is a democracy,' he said. 'You cannot keep people from standing for election. Whether they're going to be elected is another matter. I don't think he's going to be elected, but he's one of the candidates.'
That Mrs Megawati's party had lost heavily in the parliamentary poll showed that the system was working, Dr Andi suggested.
'She has now got the message loud and clear - corruption is a major problem and anyone who fails to do something about that will be punished by the electorate,' he said. 'This issue has to be put as a priority; otherwise the next time around they're going to be kicked out by the people.'
Both agreed that the fact Suharto had avoided answering corruption charges before a court was not good for perceptions of Indonesia internationally.
