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What's NewS Issue 4 April 1998
Eki Widjarti 'staple
items have heen
stripped from the
stores'
But at the height of the
shortages back in January,
shortages that grew out of
panic buying, he realized baby
formula was in very short
supply. He understood then
that if your children are
threatened, you're no longer
rational. For another
colleague, the dream of a
child's further education
outside the country is fading
fast. The once more than
ample college fund has also
lost most of its value in the
past few months. 'What's
worrying about all of this,'
says secretary Eki Widjarti, 'is
that after a period when basic
and staple items had been
stripped from the stores, the
new stock coming in is much
more expensive. Milk is
becoming a luxury rather than
a necessity.'
HOME GROWN
Inflation is running at around
11 percent per month. 'What
we've done is work out an
extra allowance for people on
lower salaries,' says general
manager Chris Mol. 'They are
the hardest hit and we want to
make sure that they are not
suffering in any way.' But even
arrangements of this kind
cannot make up for the fact
that Indonesians are having to
go back to basics. 'The prices
of imported goods are beyond
the pocketbooks of most
ordinary people,' says Tina
Sugiro. 'So you see them
turning to home-grown
products. Processed orange
juice, for example, has tripled
in price, so people are making
their own, like they used to.'
POLITIC AL APATHY
On the surface, people are
cheerful and retain their ready
courtesy and apparent stoicism
in the face of economie
disaster. According to one ex-
pat, it is not the Indonesian's
style to complain. Yet, the
huge disappointment and
frustration feit by the people at
Iarge is bubbling just under the
surface, said many of the
Indonesians. In spite of a deep
resentment against the ruling
elite as they see all they have
worked for wiped away, one
man told, there is a pervasive
political apathy. Last month in
Jakarta, a seventh term was
inaugurated for the country's
president who has pursued
what is termed 'family
economics'. To outside
observers, it looks more like a
family business with 200
million employees. Corruption
and nepotism are rife and are
at the root of the IMF's
insistence on change if the
international community is to
continue to come to
Indonesia's aid.
DIFFERENT ACTION
This is not the place to go into
Indonesian politics. But for the
growing group of young, well
(and often internationally)
educated professionals, the
recent election results were
both a foregone conclusion
and a disappointment. 'If you
look around, at Malaysia,
Thailand, you see both are
coming through the crisis and
both have changed their
governments because this kind
of crisis demands different
action,' says Fony Limengan of
Rabo Finance. It didn't happen
in Indonesia. 'People are much
more stressed,' she says. 'All
around you clients are in real
trouble, but on a more
personal ievel, you see people
losing their jobs because of the
recession that has followed in
the wake of crisis. We talk
about our customers
defaulting, but the same thing
is also happening on a massive
scale in the retail sector here.
People can't pay their
mortgages. No bank is
repossessing because the
housing market has collapsed.
That's one advantage, I
suppose, but people are in real
trouble.'
IMPORT SHORTAGES
There are few other
advantages. At Rabobank, jobs
are secure. However, that does
Tina Sugiro, 'people
are going back to
basics'
Fony Limengan
(above) and Widiyo
Buntoro of Rabo
finance
