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View all search resultsLetter: Indonesia needs social security
Indonesia is still relying so much on its fiscal and monetary policy, and uses very liquid US dollar reserves as a barometer for Indonesian “economic health”
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I
ndonesia is still relying so much on its fiscal and monetary policy, and uses very liquid US dollar reserves as a barometer for Indonesian “economic health”. This is a very unstable platform when big crises strike. My opinion is this is OK, but we will remain a third-world country a little longer.
Take Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, and China for example. These countries used to be third-world countries with large numbers of citizens in a very difficult demographic to control. Look at them now. It all started in their willingness to allocate some of their countries development to social security programs. None is perfect, but these countries are now more financially solid than before, and don’t rely so much on foreign assets. It wasn’t easy to start this process, especially for China.
I would suggest that the new inexperienced finance minister fight for a social security program, and use not just academic expertise to solve the social security problem, but also common sense: Common sense to do things right and not rely so much on collective opinions and power.
It is not going to be easy, but at least we can expect him to try. And yes, making unfavorable decisions will have consequences. But that’s his role to play. Social security should be something that support healthcare, transportation issues, insurance, pension, and development in less focused areas of Indonesia, and if ever, all government tactical planned funding.
Unfortunately, my country still needs to learn to play fair. There will be winners and losers, like it or not.
Political issues on who will be in charge of such funding are another “subject of interest”. Legal officials are getting smarter at pin-pointing gaps in laws for real criminals, and agree that most people fight hard to make ends meet, and those in the upper class will move further away from the poor.
Jamsostek (the state-owned workers insurance agency), or the Social Services Ministry should try to support this initiative instead of trying to get the bigger chunk. On Aug. 16, there will be a comprehensive book launched on how the Indonesian government should manage social security. This book was written by a person who has been in Indonesian political and developmental turbulence for more than 30 years. His ideas of social security for Indonesia were rejected by three eras of leaders.
Raja Barmansyah
Jakarta
