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View all search resultsIndonesia must ensure it never has to say yes to the IMF ... again
Sovereignty is not proven by rejecting help, but rather by never becoming desperate enough to need it.
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Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa (center), flanked by his deputy ministers Suahasil Nazara (left) and Juda Agung, addresses a press conference in Jakarta on March 11, 2026, to present the monthly ‘Our State Budget’ (APBN Kita) report. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
here is a photograph I cannot forget: On Jan. 15, 1998, against the backdrop of the Asian Financial Crisis, president Soeharto leans over a desk, signing a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund. Behind him stands Michel Camdessus, the IMF chief, arms folded, watching.
To a historian, that might be just another archival image, but to many Indonesians who lived through that period, it was something else entirely: It captured the moment we lost our dignity as a nation.
Once was enough. That is why I understood, and even supported, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa’s decision to reject a US$20-30 billion lifeline from the IMF and the World Bank.
Indonesia is not standing at the roadside with a donation box. We still have ammunition. The government has pointed to approximately Rp 420 trillion ($24 billion) in excess budget. Our foreign reserves remain sizeable, and the economy is not collapsing.
But saying “no” to outsiders is the easier half of maintaining our sovereignty. The harder half is making sure we never reach a point that saying “yes” becomes unavoidable.
This is where the conversation must be more honest; not panicked, not dramatic and not opposition for the sake of opposition, just pure honesty.
The numbers are not yet red, but they are not comfortably green either. Indonesia still holds around $148 billion in foreign reserves. That is reassuring, but it must be viewed in context.
