Agence France Presse 
October 16, 2000, Monday

Indonesian activists urge new approach from donor nations Takahiro Fukada

TOKYO, Oct 16

Activists on Monday urged international donors preparing to meet in Tokyo this week to cut Indonesia's vast debt and tackle poverty.

Indonesia is to estimate its debt next year at 4.9 billion dollars during the World Bank-backed Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Japanese reports.

Japan is likely to provide fresh loans worth 58 billion yen (540 million dollars) to Indonesia to help finance five projects designed to support farming and other industries, the reports said.

But Japan and other countries should ensure their money is better spent, argued Indonesian activists at a news conference in Tokyo ahead of the meeting.

"We want CGI to start addressing debt-reduction for Indonesia," said Binny Buchori, executive secretary of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID).

"If CGI is responding to poverty reduction, then they should let Indonesia use the money not to repay the debt, but to put more money to investment in social spending," he said.

"We want the international community to know that Indonesia's debt burden is very huge, and that of course in Indonesia, big debt is creating more poverty."

Japan, Indonesia's biggest aid donor, should carefully monitor any fresh money it gives to the embattled government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, the INFID activist said.

"I think in principle, foreign loans to Indonesia should be allocated to sectors that support productivity," Buchori said.

"So we have to know truly what kind of agricultural activity they are talking about," he said, attacking the lack of any public consultation in the deliberations between Tokyo and Jakarta.

"This is the kind of things that we really object (to) because we want ... a public consultation with civil society, NGOs (on) how to use the fund, for what purpose, what kind of project."

Last Tuesday, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa met Rizal Ramli, Indonesia's coordinating minister for the economy, in Tokyo and said his government was ready to announce fresh support for Indonesia at the donor nations' meeting.

But some donors are still reluctant to provide fresh aid because of Indonesia's lax security measures against militia groups opposing East Timor's independence, reports say.

The international community has pressured Indonesia to disarm pro-Jakarta East Timorese militias blamed for the murder of three UN aid workers in West Timor on September 6.

Another INFID official, Rivrisond Baswir, said Indonesia's donors had grown wiser since the regime of former strongman Suharto.

"There is (some) improvement," he told the news conference.

"They (donor countries) agreed that they have done a kind of wrong-doing during the Suharto era because they kept giving Indonesia loans, although they knew that the Suharto regime was a totalitarian" one.

tfu/jit/jkb

Activists on Monday urged international donors preparing to meet in Tokyo this week to cut Indonesia's vast debt and tackle wrenching poverty.

During the World Bank-backed Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jakarta is to estimate it faces a debt next year of 4.9 billion dollars, according to Japanese reports.

Japan is likely to provide fresh loans worth 58 billion yen (540 million dollars) to Indonesia to help finance five projects designed to support farming and other industries, the reports said.

But Japan and other countries should ensure their money is better spent, argued Indonesian activists at a news conference in Tokyo ahead of the meeting.

"We want CGI to start addressing debt-reduction for Indonesia," said Binny Buchori, executive secretary of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID).

"If CGI is responding to poverty reduction, then they should let Indonesia use the money not to repay the debt, but to put more money to investment in social spending," he said.

"We want the international community to know that Indonesia's debt burden is very huge, and that of course in Indonesia, big debt is creating more poverty."

Japan, Indonesia's biggest aid donor, should carefully monitor any fresh money it gives to the embattled government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, the INFID activist said.

"I think in principle, foreign loans to Indonesia should be allocated to sectors that support productivity," Buchori said.

"So we have to know truly what kind of agricultural activity they are talking about," he said, attacking the lack of any public consultation in the deliberations between Tokyo and Jakarta.

"This is the kind of things that we really object (to) because we want ... a public consultation with civil society, NGOs (on) how to use the fund, for what purpose, what kind of project."

Last Tuesday, Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa met Rizal Ramli, Indonesia's coordinating minister for the economy, in Tokyo and said his government was ready to announce fresh support for Indonesia at the donor nations' meeting.

But some donors are still reluctant to provide fresh aid because of Indonesia's lax security measures against militia groups opposing East Timor's independence, reports say.

The international community has pressured Indonesia to disarm pro-Jakarta East Timorese militias blamed for the murder of three UN aid workers in West Timor on September 6.

Another INFID official, Rivrisond Baswir, said Indonesia's donors had grown wiser since the fall of former strongman Suharto.

"There is (some) improvement," he told the news conference.

On the eve of the donors' meeting, other pressure groups called attention to illegal logging and rife intimidation in Indonesia's Tanjung Putung National Park, a UN-listed reserve and home to endangered orangutans.

"Despite such blatant activities and the continuing responsibility of central government for national parks, the GOI (government of Indonesia) has failed to respond," said a joint statement by the international Environmental Investigation Agency and its local partner, Telapak Indonesia.

bur/jit/nj

More on CGI meeting