Suharto faces budget balancing act
Ian MacKenzie
JAKARTA, January 4: Indonesia's ageing president Suharto faces a tough balancing act over some key political and financial challenges in presenting the 1998-99 budget this week to a country in economic turmoil."I think it's going to be one of the most austere budgets we've faced over the past 30 years," said political scientist Juwono Sudarsono of the University of Indonesia. "What most Indonesians I think rely on is basically the patience of the Indonesian poor to sustain yet another round of austerity," he said. The focus is very much on the 76-year-old president, who is expected to go for a seventh five-year term in office in a presidential poll in March, but who continues to keep the nation of 200 million people off balance for lack of a designated successor. The budget speech on Tuesday night will be Suharto's longest stand-up appearance in public since doctors advised him to rest in November and questions over his health knocked back the rupiah. The currency has fallen nearly 60 per cent
against the dollar since the last budget speech in January 1997 and inflation and unemployment are rising. "This is the first time the president is going to stand up for a long period -- an hour or more -- and speak for a long time," a senior Asian diplomat said. "It will have an important impact, both from the point of view of what people want to hear in terms of restoring the economy, and also in terms of his health," he said. Political analysts say the authorities are concerned over potential public reaction to austerity measures as prices and unemployment rise. The country's powerful armed forces (ABRI) have pledged their support for the government in dealing with the economic crisis.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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