[Nasional-e] [Nasional] IBRAHIM ISA -- SELECTED INDONESIAN NEWS --16 JAN 03.-- DELAY IN PHONE RATES HIKE --

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GOVERNMENT-HOUSE DELAY HIKE IN PHONE RATES

GOVERNMENT LACKS LEADERSHIP TO END RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

"WE'RE A HUNDRED YEARS BEHIND THE DEVELOPED NATIONS",-- SAID RECTOR OF MERCU
BUANA UNIV.


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GOVERNMENT - HOUSE DELAY HIKE IN PHONE RATES
Kurniawan Hari and Ade Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 16 JAN 03.

The government and the House of Representatives have agreed to delay the
increase in telephone rates indefinitely and pledged to reassess the fuel
and electricity price hikes in an effort to contain the two-week nationwide
protests against them.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said that
the government would publicly announce the decision after a discussion on
the fuel and power price hikes was finished in the next few days.

"The relevant ministers will announce the government's decision on the fuel,
power and telephone price hikes on Thursday," he said after a consultation
meeting with the House and relevant factions late on Wednesday.

Also representing the government at the consultation meeting were
Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Yusuf Kalla, Minister
of Transportation Agum Gumelar, Minister of Mining and Energy Purnomo
Yusgiantoro and Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung called on the people to understand the
government's recent decision, saying that the price rises had the approval
of the House and they were a part of the national development program
(Propenas).

"However, the House took the initiative to call the government to revise the
latter's decision since it had met with opposition from a total of 38
provincial and regional legislative councils and sparked mass protests
nationwide over the last two weeks," he said.

Akbar said that during the meeting, Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar
had shown his good will by suspending the telephone rate hike but he could
not say when the suspension would be lifted.

He said the government had signaled that it would reduce the increases in
fuel and electricity prices and the relevant ministers were expected to make
an objective calculation.

Endin Akhmad Jalaluddin Soefihara of the United Development Party (PPP)
appreciated the government's new decision, saying that it was in line with
the top security minister's warning of an escalation in protests over the
next few days should the government decline to revise its decision.

The increases of up to 22 percent in fuel prices, six percent in electricity
rates and 15 percent in telephone rates sparked protests and met with
opposition from regional legislatures as well as affecting people from the
low and middle-income groups.

Responding to the demonstrations, President Megawati said the government's
decision was not popular but it had no other alternative than to raise the
prices.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), which Megawati
chairs, has supported the President's decision, but made calls for the
cancellation of rate hikes in the transportation sector.

Rallies held by students, labor unions, businessmen and other groups against
the price hikes have entered their second week, with protesters claiming
that the hikes will only hurt the poor.

But the government said the decision to raise utility prices would help
finance the 2003 state budget and not hurt the poor.

It said that the increase in fuel prices would mainly affect motor vehicle
owners in the middle class who spend up to 10 percent of their income on
fuel.

The government also argued that the increases would eventually lead to
allowing the masses greater access to basic necessities, such as power and
telephone. ***
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GOVERNMENT LACKS LEADERSHIP TO END RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS

Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi, 16 JAN.03

Around 400 religious leaders began a two-day national meeting here on
Wednesday with participants levying strong criticism against the government
for its failure to bring a complete end to sectarian violence in eastern
parts of the country.

They attributed outbreaks of renewed violence in the Maluku capital of Ambon
and in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso to the government's slow response
in addressing the core problems underlying the conflicts.

At least 5,000 innocent people have been killed in Ambon since the religious
violence broke out in January 1999, while over 2,000 people have died in
Poso, Central Sulawesi, since the strife started there in 2000.

Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization,
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said Wednesday that the government was "too slow" in
dealing with the sectarian fighting, prompting the killings to continue.

According to Hasyim, the government lacked "leadership and consistency" in
its efforts to completely stop the conflicts across the country,
particularly in upholding the law against the perpetrators.

"If there is no firm leadership and legal certainty in those conflict-torn
areas, the situation will remain difficult (to resolve)," Hasyim said during
the opening session of the forum, which was also attended by Minister of
Religious Affairs Said Aqil Hussein Al-Munawwar and National Police chief
Detective Insp. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng.

Hasyim also said the government should not hand over the job of handling the
conflicts to other parties, especially religious leaders.

"The flame of war should be put out together. But in this case, the
government should remain at the forefront," he asserted.

Other religious leaders called the government a "fire-fighting team", which
only moved to extinguish the fire after it had already caused extensive
damage.

The participants also urged the government to stop making the issue of
religious clashes a "political commodity" to serve its own interests.

This was one of the factors that had brought about failure in putting a
complete end to the bloodshed, they added.

In order to help halt the unrest in Poso and Ambon, the government must
prepare "real solutions" to address the basic needs of local residents,
including providing jobs, and rehabilitating and rebuilding public
facilities.

Peace deals were signed between warring factions one year ago to end the
fighting in Poso and Maluku. However, sporadic violence has continued since
then.

A bomb blast on Monday was the latest violence in Ambon to test the peace
accord. At least three people were wounded as the explosion led quickly to
stone-throwing and the torching of a vehicle.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja of the Indonesian Bishops'
Conference (KWI) said that today was not the time to blame each other.

"The most important thing is that the nation, especially the religious
figures who are gathered here, should rebuild trust and mutual respect among
the followers of different faiths," he said.

"I hope this meeting will be meaningful and further strengthen our
solidarity and brotherhood," he added.

The two-day meeting was participated in by around 400 religious figures from
all the 30 provinces. It was opened by the religious affairs minister on
behalf of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who canceled her visit to the
South Sulawesi capital of Makassar and Poso over security concerns in
Jakarta following persistent antigovernment protests.

In a message read out by Minister Agil, Megawati called for "a spirit of
equality" among religious leaders so as to promote mutual respect and
brotherhood among both them and their followers. ***
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"WE'RE A HUNDRED YEARS BEHIND THE DEVELOPED NATIONS",-- SAID RECTOR OF MERCU
BUANA UNIV.
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, 16 JAN 03

The government should not open the country's labor market to foreign
professionals and managers because locals are not ready to compete with
foreigners, analysts have said.

"We're a hundred years behind the developed nations," Didiek J. Rachbini,
the rector of Mercu Buana University, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said that opening the doors to foreign professionals would put many of
the country's managers, doctors and lawyers out of work, causing even
greater unemployment here.

He was commenting on an earlier report in this paper that the government was
facing strong pressure from some 16 nations to liberalize the domestic labor
market as required under the World Trade Organization (WTO) scheme, agreed
in Doha, Qatar, in 2001.

Developed countries, such as the U.S., Japan, Australia, Singapore and even
developing ones, such as China and India, were demanding the government to
revoke existing rulings that limit the entry of foreign managers and
professional workers to work here. This would also mean that Indonesian
professionals and managers would also be allowed to seek jobs in those
countries.

The government is negotiating for a delay in the liberalization drive until
2005.

But Didiek said that it would be impossible to boost the quality and skills
of local managers and professionals in such a short period.

He said that if the government had to allow foreign workers to work here,
Indonesia had to also be allowed to export laborers, such as truck drivers,
construction workers and others, to work in the U.S. and other developed
nations.

This group of workers is seen to have a greater chance in beating out
competition in overseas labor markets.

"We should not be dictated to by foreign governments," he said, adding that
the current WTO arrangement was unfair.

During the late 1990s, many university graduates in Indonesia went on to
business schools to earn a master of business administration, but it turned
out that their qualifications could not match their foreign peers, experts
said. Many local professionals also lack in quality and skills, they said.

The head of the research center at the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration, Dyah Paramawartiningsih, said that it could take half a
century before high-level workers were able to compete with their
counterparts from developed nations.

"The capabilities of our professional workers and managers are very low.
There must be something wrong with our education system, which surely needs
to be reformed," said Dyah.

She said that as an example, many university graduates here, and even those
holding PhDs, could not speak English properly and were not computer
literate.

Keeping this in mind, the coordinator of the Indonesian lobby team for labor
liberalization at the WTO forum, Adolf Warrouw, told the Post that his team
had also decided to lobby several countries to open their doors to laborers
from Indonesia.

But Warrouw was quick to add that it would be difficult to obtain these
concessions from developed nations.

"The 16 countries are only interested in professionals, but nevertheless, we
will try our best," he said. *****

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