TV Discussion by three Indonesian economic practitioners

An Economic Discussion Forum was held on Sunday night, May 17, 2009 on how best to manage the Indonesian Economy for the next five years to be adopted by the winner of the coming Presidential Election on July 9, 2009. Three economic practicioners were present, namely Mr. AS Dillon, and two former Indonesian Ministers, Mr. Siswono Yudhohusodo and Mr. Rizal Ramly. The following is the summary of the discussion:

• A good government leader is the one who works hard to promote the interests of the people of Indonesia, and not his personal interests, his group or the interests of foreign entities.
• According the US National Intelligence Committee (NIC) there are five countries that have future development, namely China, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil. However, Indonesia with its large natural resources may not be successful because its leaders were not wise and had a changing economic policies.
• We need to have a clean Government that have responsible economic policies.
• We need to create a new economic policy that defends the interests of the majority of the Indonesian people, such as in the management of the natural resources, and the exploration of them to the benefit of the Indonesian people, and not for the benefit of foreign investors.
• We need to create Indonesia that has self-confidence and able to manage its natural resources, not depending on foreign experts.
• We need to create a wealth of jobs for providing welfare to the people of Indonesia.
• The future Government of Indonesia should be able to stabilize basic needs prices for creating welfare and security for the people of Indonesia.
• The Goverment of Indonesia should provide sufficient health care budget, so as to make Indonesian people healthy and strong to be more productive.
• There is a need to control the Indonesian population growth, so that the welfare of the people would not be degraded by the lack of foods.