Hey IT'ers apa kabar pada tau gak sih, bahwa utang (utang luar negeri tho ya, yang utang haram lah) itu ternyata justru bikin susah orang, bikin moral gak genah, bikin air jadi gak gratis alias mahal. sebaliknya bikin gendut para koruptor yang sebenarnya tidak baik buat kesehatan(kolesterol dsb, hahaha). Ohya, ngomong-omong soal utang, bukan Indonesia aja yang banyak utangnya, filipine, dkk juga banyak utangnya. \ Nah, tiap tahun ajaIndonesia harus bayar utang 3x lipat dari anggaran pendidikan. Wah ribet mbok? sekolah jadi mahal lah... gw jadi gak gratis browsing internet, dll lah. Nah,IT'ers semua, dua hari ini gw kebetulan terlibat dalam pertemuan Internasional Peoples Forum (IPF) di Batam, peserta yang kurang lebih 500-an orang dari berbagai negara ternyata hampir sama menderitanya (negaraberkembang). Pertemuan ini guna menggugat WB dan IMF yang sedang melakukan konferensi yg sama di Singapura. Di sana gw ketemu banyak orang ada Ana Maria Nemenzo(Direktur FDC), Aurora Parong(Ketua "Kontras"nya Filipine), Kunibert Raffer(Dosen Austria Univ), Mreka sepakat yang namanya WB & IMF adalah dua makhluk yang mengerikan, kejam, berbahaya, dan harus dihentikan, kalo bisa dikendalikan siiiy. Nah dibawah ini ada beberapa catatan kecil sekilas mengenai jalannya acara:
Batam, Indonesia: The Filipino people have become the saving grace of foreign power companies who have gone bankrupt in their countries. Ana Maria Nemenzo, president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, said foreign companies like Mirant Corporation has declared bankruptcy yet continues to operate due to its presence in subsidiaries like its subsidiary in the Philippines. In an interview, Nemenzo said operations of Mirant Philippines are sent back to their mother company in the United States and finance its operations. Nemenzo said Mirant Philippines which now owns Sual and Pagbilao two of the IPP contracts which were found grossly disadvantageous to the government even expanded its operations in 2004. Sual contract was found onerous by the governments interagency IPP review committee due to its high escalation costs, she said. Nemenzo said Mirant Philippines have become profitable and continues to operate due to the contracts it is getting from the government. These contracts have been declared grossly disadvantageous to the government yet they continue to operate in the country, she said. Nemenzo, one of the 22 foreign activists who were barred and was later allowed to enter Singapore, said independent power producers are given incentives which are later borne by the Filipino people. She said the fuel guarantee, where government either provides the fuel or absorbs the cost of price fluctuation, and foreign exchange guarantee, which catapult power generated by IPPs to unreasonable highs due to fluctuations in the currency, are incentives absorbed by the government and is passed on to the Filipino people. No such guarantee is found in the IPP contracts in other countries. Worse, some contracts were approved despite irregularities, she said. Nemenzo said IPPs have increased the destituteness of the Filipino people rather than provide them cheap electricity. Taxpayers and electricity consumers are made to pay unjust costs arising from the contracts because these are covered by sovereign guarantee which assured the IPPs that the National Power Corporations obligations to them will be paid, she said. Nemenzo said Filipinos also shoulder additional taxes as the national governments debt increased with new loans incurred by Napocor arising from its contracts amounting to P724 billion as of 2004. Clearly, injustice has been committed against the people as they are made to pay for power that they have not consumed a violation of the Declaration of Policy in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act which says that it is the policy of the State to protect the public interest as it is affected by the rates and services of electric utilities and other providers of electric power, she said. September 17, 2006 Story 2 Batam, Indonesia: An international civil society movement has launched a Transparency Charter which would look into the policies and programs of the international financial institutions (IFI). Dubbed the Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions: Claiming our Right to Know, the Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) aims to fundamentally transform the disclosure practices of IFIs. The GTI said it is the fundamental right of the people to get access to information held by inter-governmental organizations like the IFIs. It is grounded in the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas as guaranteed under international law, the group said. GTI said transparency could lessen corruption, avoid damage to communities and sensitive ecosystems; and identify potential social, environmental and economic benefits in the implementation of IFI-led activities. They said IFIs remain highly secretive and the systems they use for disclosure are boxed in a set of procedural requirements, providing information they choose and keep everything else confidential, with or without legitimate reason. GTI said directors of IFIs operate behind closed doors with information disclosed only when relevant decisions are already made. Notwithstanding the number of documents available on their websites, many IFIs do not report on how their investments help reduce poverty, they said. GTI said disclosure of information on the IFIs workings should be done on a rights-based approach on the presumption of disclosure, generous automatic disclosure rules, limited exceptions and a right to appeal denials to an independent body. The Transparency Charter sits on nine principles namely, right to access; automatic disclosure; access to decision-making; right to request information; limited exceptions; appeals; whistleblower protection; promotion of freedom of information and regular review. The right to information plays a crucial role in promoting a range of important social values. Information has been described as the oxygen of democracy. It is a key underpinning of meaningful participation, an important tool in combating corruption and central to democratic accountability, the GTI said. Makanya, ayo kita bareng-bareng meyakini bahwa WB & IMF bikin sengsara. (Akhwan jaya) _________________________________________________________________ Don't just search. Find. 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