Has Shock Doctrine Found Its Way Home?

We have been presented so many stories and facts about global financial crisis which was said initially rooted in subprime credits provided loosely in the United States. I have read in some websites explaining about what subprime credit means. Principally subprime credit means a credit provided by US mortgage banking to group of debtors called NINJA. In this case Ninja has no relationship to what we know as Japanese Ninja. NINJA stands for No Income No Job and No Assets. So evidently, the banking industrialists in US, especially the ones engaging as mortgage banks have committed irresponsible banking practices, i.e., evidently violated the 5C banking principles which every economy school student must have known. Anyway, subprime credit only one of many other causes of the financial market crisis in US and now global financial market.

Antony Mueller, founder of the

Continental Economics Institute said:
“The current economic disaster is the result of the combination of negligence, hubris, and wrong economic theory. For decades, an economic and monetary policy has been practiced based on the illusion of, "It doesn't matter." At first it was, "Deficits don't matter." From that, the policy of "it doesn't matter" got extended to money creation, the credit expansion, the stock-market bubble, and the housing boom. Now, we're being told that buying financial junk by the central bank to beef up banks and brokerages also doesn't matter.”

I am interested in finding the real cause of this financial market crisis. For I am neither a financial expert nor an economist, I tried to find all the information here and there. One of the references that really impressed me was a book written by Naomi Klein titled Shock Doctrine. This situation is exactly described well in her book. The difference is on the crisis spot, if most of the crisis detailed in the book happened in almost every place other than United States, now, it happened right in the core of the USA.

To me, this crisis is rooted from the combination of greediness, laziness, stinginess and selfishness. I am a believer of a theory where money and prosperity can be generated only by employment, people economic. The more employments, the better. As we may not forget that most people are living in sub-poor to middle class society, no exception for Indonesia or USA. No country on earth is able to eliminate poor level society to zero percent. I do not believe in money work mechanism as normally applicable under capitalism (which I suspect referred to as wrong economic theory by Antony Mueller) where the money put in the bank and let other people use the money somewhere and we receive handsome interest payment regularly.

To gain something we have to work, no doubt about it. It is the obligation of Government in every country to provide employment to its people. Now, what we can expect in Indonesia, no significant infrastructure has been developed. How can people generate income if they do not have work to do? No wonder criminal cases are increased, most drugs related business are very tempting to desperate people in this kind of situation.

After the cold war era, most countries have changed their faces from pink or red color regime to capitalist regime of economy. Under the capitalist regime as dreamt and urged by Milton Friedman, the guru of Chicago School Economy, the economy will find its balance if there is no intervention whatsoever from government. This idea has inspired the trend of privatization all over the world, affected and dictated by Friedmanist cronies, known as Chicago Boys in South part of America or popular as Berkeley Mafia here in Indonesia, of course.

It is hard for me to understand as to why we should accept the idea that privatization is the solution to the crisis while we all know that many of those state companies being privatized were money machines that support state finance. Anyway, I am just pretending naively, of course the more privatizations, the more controls those sharks will hold. The sharks called multi national companies. Of course there is interesting upside of certain amount of commissions for brokers known as international investment banks or more like piranhas. It is all about money, nothing else.

It is so ironical, that last time we have financial crisis in 1998, IMF has eventually successfully pushed some kind of financial rescue package or known as ‘structural adjustment’ which includes deregulations in investment law, tightening of monetary policy, deduction of subsidy and privatization of state owned companies. Many of our important and strategic state companies have been privatized, including banking sectors. Now we will see when those private sectors suffered from huge bad debts, it might be the time for government to step in, bail out the debt. Perhaps, when those companies become healthy again, then there will be another design to take over them by international private companies.

During my office at IBRA doing some debt restructuring before finally selling them off, I witnessed that the financial crisis in Indonesia and most Asia countries have weakened our economy which then weakened the political position of Indonesian government at that time. IMF showed up as the ‘hero’ in providing a loan to rescue the situation. Anyway, it came not without something. In line with shock doctrine theory the IMF saw the crisis as the opportunity to apply the theory in practice, such as deregulations in investment law, removing trade barriers, minimizing government interference in market, cutting out subsidy or lowering social spending and privatization.

Given the experience in 1998, I started to think maybe this time IMF will drop by to the United States and lend its powerful hands to the US government, with the cost and implications of course to be borne by lowest level of society in the USA. It will be interesting to observe how IMF will work its ‘structural adjustment’ in its homeland. Will it have a heart to hurt people of the country which have supported it since the beginning? or is it just another bad luck for American people, just as happened to us in Indonesia.

I think it is not totally untrue what Antony Mueller said:
“The current financial crisis is not of a cyclical nature. The financial turmoil is the symptom of the structural imbalances in the real economy. Over decades, expansive monetary policy has gone hand in hand with implicit and explicit bailout guarantees, and this has distorted the process of capital allocation. Under such perverted conditions, those investors will win most who cast away the restraints of prudence. It is a game that can go on for a long time — up to the point when the irrationality has become systemic.”

Is it really the phenomenon of the downfall of capitalism or is it the domino effects that ‘certain people’ wish to get in the end? We will find out later.

By: Nela Dusan (Gusnelia Tartiningsih)
Rasuna, 13 October 2008

In memoriam Ibu Retty Surjanah

Innalillahi wa innailaihi rojiun...

Baru kemarin siang kita semua alumni SMA Negeri 31 angkatan 87 ketemu menyambung silaturahmi, sempat terselip percakapan dengan beberapa teman yang menyebut nama almarhumah, bahkan Sri sempat bercerita menanyakan sesuatu kepada ibu Syafrida mengenai almarhumah, meskipun sempat terbersit keingintahuan tapi entah kenapa pertanyaan itu tidak terucap. Kenapa dengan ibu Retty? Sakitkah atau ada hal lain? Sungguh tidak sampai lidah ini bertanya.

Hari ini saya baca email dari Jack, ibu Retty sudah tiada. Ibu Retty punya tempat tersendiri di hati saya, sejenak memori melambung kembali ke tahun 86-87, seperti putaran proyektor. Ada saya dengan seragam putih abu2, terkadang (sering sebenarnya) dengan Umar (semoga masih ingat ya Mar), berdiri berhadapan dengan beliau, dengan pertanyaan yang sama, jawaban yang sama dan hukuman yang bervariasi. Semua dengan kesalahan yang itu-itu juga, selalu terlambat.

Bagi saya saat itu, kepala sekolah kita itu jauh dari tokoh ideal seorang guru yang memenuhi kriteria kita pada jaman itu. Orangnya kaku, galak, sangat disiplin (apalagi buat saya yg sangat serampangan saat itu), lurus, to the point, tidak menganggap popularitas sekolah sesuatu yang penting dibangun, seperti halnya dia tidak menganggap penting menjadi populer atau tidak di mata anak didiknya.

Lihat apa yang sudah dia lakukan untuk SMA 31 saat itu, khususnya tahun angkatan kita, pencapaian yang sampai saat ini masih saya rasakan fantastis, terutama untuk ukuran sekolah yang berlokasi di pelosok seperti itu lebih dari 170 anak mendapat tempat di berbagai universitas negeri dan STAN. Bahkan barangkali jumlah anak 31 yang masuk FHUI pada tahun 87 merupakan jumlah terbanyak, melebihi sekolah2 ngetop lain di Jakarta ini. Tapi, kita tidak terbiasa menyombongkan diri di luar (barangkali karena tidak tahu caranya), kita terbiasa diajarkan bersikap sederhana, sesederhana kepala sekolahnya. Saya kira ibu Retty secara diam-diam telah mengajarkan kepada kita semua mengenai kesederhanaan dan kesahajaan sikap. Tanpa kata-kata beliau mengajarkan kita melalui contoh, sikap hidupnya sendiri, ntah saya yang kuper atau tidak update informasi, tapi yang jelas saya tidak pernah mendengar selentingan atau gosip apapun mengenai komersialisme atau konsurmerisme dalam kehidupannya, tidak selama yang saya kenal beliau.

Kita adalah anak-anak sekolah 'kampung' yang mampu berdiri sejajar dengan anak-anak jebolan sekolah top dimanapun dibelahan lain di Jakarta ini. Meskipun memiliki kepala sekolah yang sangat keras, namun saya tidak bisa memungkiri kenyataan bahwa masa tiga tahun saya di SMA 31 merupakan salah satu masa dalam hidup ini yang ingin saya kenang sampai saya jompo nanti, dan pasti ibu Retty, tokoh sentral kehidupan saya saat itu, tidak akan lepas dari pembicaraan saya. Selamat jalan ibu Retty Surjanah, semoga Allah mengampuni dosa dan kekhilafan Ibu dan menerima semua amal ibadah Ibu yang tulus. Amin.

Simple Philosophy of the Pencil

Nice analogy. I love it. This comes from the book written by Paulo Coelho, Like the Flowing River. I really love reading one of the chapters. It's about the philosophy of pencil which was told by a grandma to her grandson. The following is not an exact excerpt, but it is taken from the book.

Here we go.

Pencil has five qualities which, if we manage to hang on to them, will make each of us a person who is always at peace with the world. They are:

First quality: like pencil, we are capable of great things but we must never forget that there is a hand guiding our steps. We call that hand God. He always guides us according to His will.

Second quality: now and then, we have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, it is much sharper. So we, too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they make us better persons.

Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside us.

Fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, we should know that everything we do in life will leave a mark, so try to be concious of that in our every action.

Quite true, isn't it?

Nela Dusan

Rasuna, 23 October 2008

Amazing Race, Amazing Life

Now, every Thursday evening, I have my favorite TV show broadcasted. Since last week, the reality show, Amazing Race Asia the 3rd has started. 10 finest teams across Asia have been selected and have competed in a race which sometimes pushes the racers to the bottom limit of their endurance, mentally and physically.

Ever since I saw the series of Amazing Race Asia or America, I kept mumbling when I finished watching the show, ‘so amazing, what amazing race’. I found it brilliant to create such a reality show. Moreover, I found the show title exactly reflects it, ‘Amazing Race’, it really is.

I saw participants that represent Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippine, Thailand, India, and Korea, but I saw none from Indonesia. Imagine, 200-million population country. Even Malaysia, whose population only 10% of Indonesia, has successfully sent its two couple of racers in this third Amazing Race Asia and so far, they have done impressively.

In the first and second Amazing Race, Indonesia had participants. Even in the first Amazing Race, the Indonesian brothers were able to keep up until the second last round, being the fourth best team out of ten teams. If we followed their races from the start until the pit stop in Dubai, in which they finally had to give up, we would be very proud of them and it was a heartbreaking to see they just lost it. Anyway, they had tried so hard.

Now, let us see this third Amazing Race Asia. Where are Indonesians? Are we that pathetic as no pair of Indonesian competent enough to lead their way and be equal with other Asian representatives?

It is so ironic, while the Amazing Race is designed to reach the bottom limit of mental and physical endurance of men; the race has been joined by people who might know nothing about the hardness of life. They come from middle to high level of society of countries which might be not as poor as Indonesia. Then, why Indonesian who would have used to live in such a hardship could not let them pass the qualification of the race. The race which is specially designed to go beyond normal life, the kind of life most Indonesian experiences daily. With everything is so difficult around us, high price, low income, things and pressure you should cope with as long as you live in Indonesia, actually Indonesian should have mentally prepared racers. Does it not sound like challenges in Amazing Race only it happens all the time in our actual life? Or, perhaps the big political event in 2009 affects it. Maybe, the best of our people are now concentrating for the amazing race of Indonesian version in the 2009 election. There is no time to participate in such Amazing Race reality show.

Another irony, when the difficulties are intentionally created to be conquered, we are absent. Yet, when such hardship has been successfully coped with by other Asian nations, particularly ASEAN countries, Indonesia still could not get a grip let alone get up. While to others the hardship and challenges of life have become TV show, we are experiencing them without camera let alone rewards.

Why could not we find just two finest Indonesian people that can represent their 200 million brothers in the third Amazing Race Asia? Perhaps, because to us, the hardship is not a TV show but it is part of the life itself. So, why bother to participate in such a race and be watched in TV. Still, I keep wondering why there could not be just two Indonesian people taking part in the race of Asian people.

In the show, every participant is pushed and forced to keep up with and complete the race. Even though they have to go through the night without sleeps. No unfinished race is allowed, every challenge must be dealt with conclusively to enable the racers to reach every pit stop. It is interesting to learn how men can endure under such circumstances amazingly.

In Amazing Race, both Asia and America, the pressures can dismantle and uncover the real character of its participants. There are patient, tolerant persons or emotional and moody kind of persons. We sometimes see some kind of mean and rude persons, pathetic persons, weak or kind of a blaming on other person type of people. They sometimes use very tricky and evil strategies to get rid off their competitors just to reach pit stop earlier than others. The rule of the game is so simple, never finish last at every pit stop, otherwise you will be eliminated. So simple, yet the process to achieve it very much startling and so hard. It is said that this particular Amazing Race Asia is the toughest race ever.

One of the interesting facts is nice team tends to be the winner of each race episode. Actually, it takes more than just brain or even muscles. It gets a complex formula to win the race. Internal factors that can drive the couple to win the race are solid cooperation between partners, trust in each other, be dependent on and relied upon on each other at the same time. High motivation and fighting spirit in every racer also contributes a lot to the success.

All teams have equal opportunity to win or lose because nobody can control external factors, such as delay in transportation, no public transportation available, unnecessary miscommunication with drivers can cause a team be eliminated. Any team can finish first at one pit stop but it can also be the second last team who arrived at another pit stop or even the last team arrived then eliminated.

I see similarities between Amazing Race and our lives as human being, regardless nationality. In the Amazing Race, we have to fight to avoid being the last team who reaches the pit stop and eventually struggle to be number one at the final pit stop at the end of the race season. In life, we often encounter challenges and race into competitions, fair or unfair ones.

Notwithstanding the complex factors, internally and externally, it was proven that during the first Amazing Race, the Indonesian couple could keep up their fight before giving up at the last two pit stops during the first Amazing Race Asia because they had counted more on their brain, rather than their muscles. Analogically, our nation, being one of the racers, is likely to win the fight of this life if we use our brain instead of muscles. Just like Amazing Race, the life is also affected by brain superiority, namely, planning, preparation, strategy and implementation.
Ironically, it seems that in our nation life muscles have dominated more than brain. The pathetic fact is when other Asian countries could get up and reach out from the crisis in 1998, as it happens now in the United States, Indonesian seems to go nowhere as it was 10 years ago. Where do we go wrong?

If we compare it with the Amazing Race in which every racer must finish the challenges conclusively, regardless how long it takes to finish it, it seems Indonesian people have failed or at least have not successfully concluded its challenges and reached its pit stop. Our nation has not completed the homework attributable to the crisis which has been suffered since ten years ago. Whilst, other countries have reached their pit stops quite long ago. It seems if we have not dealt with our home works conclusively, namely, domestic economy, social and political problems, it is likely that we will be the last team who reaches the pit stop.

Despite the similarities between Amazing Race and the amazing life, there is a significant difference. As to Amazing Race, it is so important to try hard to be the first and avoid being the last, there is no such a thing in real life. It does not matter whether we start first or last as long as we can reach pit stop safely. Without prejudice to other countries’ problems, it is possible that problems they faced were less complex than ours. The point is, no matter what, we have to try hard to solve our problems. We have to start to confide in each other and show others that we can be relied upon and trustworthy as much as we expect other people vice versa, for the sake of our nation.

Taking into account all the external factors, there is no guarantee that the existing more advanced countries will stay advance forever or Indonesia can not chase them one day. There is always a chance that Indonesia can position itself in an equal level to other countries.

So, it is clear that it takes more than just a bunch of brainy people to lead this nation but people who have vision and sense of nationalism, people who are humble enough to set aside their personal, group or foreign agenda for the sake of this nation survival in the amazing race of this precious life. It is okay if our country gets up a bit later than other countries, as long as we settle our challenges and ready to move toward next pit stops.

As it is in Amazing Race, let us hope that the next pit stop will not make our nation be eliminated. Just as the popular tag line of the host of Amazing Race, “The last team checks in may be eliminated”. How is it Indonesia?

Rasuna, 18 September 2008
Nela Dusan