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Prabowo's figures questioned
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla and economists questioned on Monday Prabowo Subiantoâs claim that he could easily get Rp 1 quadrillion (US$84
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ormer vice president Jusuf Kalla and economists questioned on Monday Prabowo Subianto's claim that he could easily get Rp 1 quadrillion (US$84.64 billion) from stopping the 'leakage' of the country's assets to finance his ambitious development program.
Quoting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad who said last year that the country lost Rp 7.2 quadrillion because of poor management, the presidential candidate said it was very easy to achieve his target simply by imposing more prudent controls on the state's assets.
According to Kalla, the running mate of presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo in the July 9 presidential election, the figure was absurd because the state budget only amounted to Rp 1.8 quadrillion. 'How could he reach that conclusion?' Kalla said on the sidelines of his campaign visit to East Java on Monday.
Finance Minister Chatib Basri declined to comment. 'Just ask Pak Prabowo. I know nothing about those figures,' said Chatib.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi did not deny Abraham's statement but emphasized that it was not based on empirical studies.
Several economists including University of Indonesia lecturer Faisal Basri and Standard Chartered's Eric Sugandi, have also questioned Prabowo's calculations. 'It is completely wrong,' said Faisal on the sidelines of a banking seminar in Jakarta on Monday.
Meanwhile, although sharing similarities in his economic vision with Prabowo, presidential candidate Jokowi has come up with a number of programs that are more concrete and ready to implement compared to his rival Prabowo, who is offering novel ideas, economists have said.
In the televised presidential debate on Sunday, both contenders in Indonesia's highly anticipated presidential race, shared their nationalistic views on managing the economy, which is the biggest in Southeast Asia, by focusing on self-sufficiency, people-based orientation and wealth creation. Despite those similarities, Jokowi and Prabowo offered different approaches to attaining their goals.
Jokowi proposed, among other aspirations, to grow the economy by more than 7 percent through an enhanced business climate to attract investment and boost exports, to spur the development of infrastructure such as deep-water seaports and railways to reduce logistics costs and to cut energy subsidies and allocate the money saved for education instead.
In addition, the non-active Jakarta governor and former Surakarta mayor would establish a system that would allow more efficient state spending and avert the misuse of funds, such as through electronic budgeting.
Prabowo, on the other hand, proposed to channel Rp 1 billion to every village each year, open 2 million hectares of new farming land and avert the 'leakage' of the country's assets, amounting to Rp 1 quadrillion, which instead could be used to boost economic growth and create prosperity for the people.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam said that Jokowi offered concrete action plans, mostly derived from his actual experience as a public-policy maker, something that Prabowo lacked.
'Jokowi addressed three main issues ' human capital, governance and infrastructure ' and he offers clear action plans to attain the goals because his vision and missions are built on facts in the real world,' he said.
In contrast to Jokowi's 'grounded approach', Prabowo, a retired lieutenant general, still had not revealed detailed means to achieving his goals, such as tackling the 'leakage' and generating new agricultural land.
Jokowi's target of expanding the economy of 7 percent-plus was in line with the consensus among economists, and adequate infrastructure would play a key role in meeting that goal, Eric said.
'Basically, Jokowi's ideas are not far from the consensus. While Prabowo's ideas, such as creating 2 million hectares of new farming areas, are good, their implementation remains questionable,' he said.
Eric also questioned the figure of leakage amounting to Rp 1 quadrillion revealed by Prabowo, which needed further verification.
Bank Mandiri chief economist Destry Damayanti, however, said both candidates offered promises that were somewhat unrealistic given the limitations of the state budget and the funds available to finance the projects, alongside the commitment of both candidates to reduce borrowing.
'Where does the money come from?' said Destry. 'I think [the programs] are a little bit unrealistic with regard to funding.'
