Mega Power Outage

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Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and her husband, Taufik Kiemas, rang in 2003 in style. They celebrated New Year's Eve at the presidential palace in Bali, where Megawati crooned Indonesian classics from the 1970s. Earlier that same day, they had celebrated Taufik's birthday and launched his book Without the People Leadership Means Nothing at the five-star Grand Bali Beach Hotel.

But the party didn't last. The next day the government enacted aggressive price hikes on fuel, electricity and phone tariffs, partially rolling back decades-old subsidies that had cost the government billions of dollars each year. The response? Two weeks of often angry demonstrations around the country. Last week the government relented by postponing a 16% rise in phone rates, and promising to review plans to boost electricity rates by about 6% and fuel by up to 22%. But postponements and promises aren't enough, complains Ade Rostina, a spokeswoman for Voices of Mothers Who Care, especially after a recent executive decision that nixed criminal charges for bank owners who had fraudulently misused massive federal loans. "The President doesn't mind giving breaks to corrupt bankers. Why should we have to sacrifice so that they can get off? Megawati would prefer to side with the corrupters than¡]with) the people."

Megawati, once again, seems incapable of figuring out whose advice¡Xor whose outrage¡Xto take to heart. On one hand, the price increases are necessary to meet targets laid out in the domestic budget and by the International Monetary Fund. On the other, many depend on such assistance. And while the administration has overseen some economic improvements, few people welcome Megawati's call to "bear the burden together" while corruption continues unabated. Says a Western diplomat in Jakarta, the price hikes "were not accompanied by any political strategy whatsoever to explain, justify or anticipate opposition."

Wary of a warning from the military to stay in line, the protesters have said they won't try to topple the government. Still, Megawati knows that Suharto's downfall began under similarly volatile circumstances in 1998¡Xand that elections are only 18 months away. Perhaps she needs to read her husband's book.